Collusion between CCP spies and the Japanese military. (Photo from Voice of America)
[People News] Citing a Radio France Internationale report: On August 15, following the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Wang Yi claimed that, according to international documents from World War II, Japan must return to China the territories it had seized, including Taiwan.
Wang Yi said: The Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation clearly defined Japan’s war responsibilities, requiring Japan to return the territories it had stolen from China, including Taiwan. This is an undeniable victory of the world anti-fascist war, and an important component of the postwar international order.
I. Taiwan’s Rebuttal
On August 16, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement. Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te wrote on Facebook on August 15, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII:
World War II was a historical catastrophe. The hegemonic ambitions of a few dictators, coupled with the illusion that compromise could bring peace, gave aggressors the chance to exploit others, dragging many countries into merciless war. Therefore, when authoritarianism again seeks to gather strength and expand, we must unite and ensure that aggression cannot succeed.
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported: Taiwan’s ruling party officials said today that the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII also marks 80 years since the Republic of China (ROC) government, leading the entire military and civilian population, fought unitedly to defeat Japan’s authoritarian expansionism and achieve final victory against aggression. This year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has staged massive commemorations of the so-called 80th anniversary of the Anti-Japanese War victory, distorting history by falsely claiming that the CCP led the war against Japan. By holding “September 3rd” and “Taiwan Retrocession” commemorations and other united front activities, the CCP aims to strengthen its “One-China principle” and falsely link it with UN Resolution 2758. Its fabricated narrative about Taiwan’s status will not be accepted by either the international community or the Taiwanese people.
II. The Truth of the War Against Japan
Citing BBC reporting: In November 2015, Japanese scholar Endo Homare, Professor Emeritus at Tsukuba University, published a book titled Mao Zedong: The Man Who Conspired with the Japanese. Drawing on Chinese, Taiwanese, and Japanese sources, Endo argued that while the Kuomintang (KMT) military resisted Japan, Mao Zedong’s CCP collaborated with Japan’s special service agency in Shanghai—the Iwai Mansion—to undermine the KMT. The book quickly gained public attention in Japan, with five reprints in just one month.
Since coming to power, Xi Jinping has annually declared that the CCP was the backbone of the resistance against Japan, seeking to bolster his grip on the nation by glorifying the Party.
In response to CCP accusations that Japan shows no remorse for the war, Endo posted online criticisms, arguing: If ordinary people say this, it is understandable. But the CCP has no right to demand Japan’s reflection. During the war, Mao Zedong exploited Japan’s aggression, made contact with Japanese diplomats, and engaged in espionage to weaken the KMT’s resistance. The true traitor to the Chinese nation was Mao Zedong himself.
In June 2015, a Weibo account under the name “Little Rightist” published statistics released by Japan on its WWII casualties in China: Killed by the KMT: 318,883; Killed by the CCP: 851. These figures broadly matched those from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Examples included: the Hundred Regiments Offensive killed 302 Japanese; the Battle of Pingxingguan, 167; the Autumn Counteroffensive in Jin-Cha-Ji, 39; the 1939 Southern Hebei Campaign, 37; the Winter Campaign in Central Hebei, 27; the 1940 Spring Campaign, 11; the breakout at Lufang by the 115th Division, 16. Altogether, the CCP killed just 851 Japanese soldiers, with detailed records of each casualty. In July 2015, during China’s 70th-anniversary commemorations of victory in the Anti-Japanese War, prominent Chinese figures such as Zhang Yihe and Xu Jingbo reposted and endorsed this claim.
In Mao Zedong: The Man Who Conspired with the Japanese, Endo further noted: During the war, the KMT was the ruling government. Mao Zedong was determined to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek’s leadership and seize power for the CCP’s “New China.”
For this reason, Mao was grateful that Japan fought the ROC military, and he even sent spies to Iwai Eiichi, who ran the Iwai Mansion in Shanghai on behalf of Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
III. Whose Spy Was the CCP’s Pan Hannian?
According to a 2017 Voice of America interview with Endo, titled The Evil Plot (Part II): Who Betrayed the Chinese Nation? The Chongqing Bombings and Red Spies: Japanese diplomat Iwai Eiichi wrote in his memoir Shanghai Reminiscences: In the autumn of 1939, he asked CCP underground agent Pan Hannian whether he could provide internal CCP intelligence. To Iwai’s surprise, Pan immediately agreed, handing him a lengthy internal CCP report.
This information appears in a March 23, 1940, intelligence dispatch (“Top Secret No. 795”) sent by Japanese Consul General Miura Yoshiharu in Shanghai to Foreign Minister Arita Hachiro. Miura had received it two days earlier from police chief Shirosode Eimatsu. The classified report was titled: On the Combat Operations and Army-Building Efforts of the New Fourth Army. This was the intelligence Pan Hannian provided to Iwai.
Endo wondered: If the goal was to weaken the KMT, Pan should have given the Japanese KMT military information. Why, instead, provide CCP internal intelligence? After close analysis, she concluded: Pan first offered CCP internal reports to gain Iwai’s trust. Then, Pan raised the issue of a ceasefire between the CCP and Japan. In other words, during the war against Japan, the CCP did not actually fight the Japanese, but collaborated with them.
Conclusion: Wang Yi’s demand that Japan “return Taiwan” reveals a deeper irony: learning the historical truth shows that the CCP’s real crisis with Taiwan is not about Taiwan itself. The whole situation is ironic: A Japanese scholar exposes the fact that the CCP did not fight Japan; the CCP still celebrates the “80th anniversary of the Anti-Fascist Victory”; and despite pouring vast resources into its Taiwan policy, the CCP has never even sorted out its basic historical record.
(First published by People News)
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