Honouring KMT sacrifices in Sino-Japanese war seen as blow against revisionism
Finally recognising Nationalist sacrifices in the Sino-Japanese war could be welcome first step in renouncing policy of revisionism
The Communist Party of China, having inherited the Soviet-style framework of writing history, has long used historical revisionism to advance its political and ideological agenda.
For instance, mainland history books have all significantly played up the war effort by the Communist army and played down the contributions of the Nationalist forces during the second Sino-Japanese war.
But last week's decision by Beijing to honour more than 90 Nationalist, or Kuomintang, soldiers and foreigners as among 300 martyrs of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, also known as the Sino-Japanese war, indicates that leaders have begun to realise the need to respect historical facts. State-run media immediately took note of the development to trumpet the leadership's "courage" to "seek truth from the fact[s]".
China Daily said it marked "a breakthrough that should have been made many years ago".
"Belated as it is, the official acknowledgment of their historical status as martyrs sends the message that this country and [the] government [are] starting to face the historical truth," it said.
"The list shows honest respect to history," the Global Times said. "It presents a record free of ideological influence or the historic conflict between the Communist Party and the Kuomintang."