Exclusive-Taiwan to mark World War Two end in history narrative battle with China

By Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee

TAIPEI (Reuters) - President Lai Ching-te will next week mark for the first time in Taiwan the end of World War Two in Europe and underscore that aggression must be defeated, sources told Reuters, at a time the island is facing increasing military pressure from China.

Taiwan has since the start of this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China in why aggression will end in failure, and take back the narrative from Beijing that it was not communist forces who took victory.

World War Two, and the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937 that preceded the start of the conflict in 1939, is a touchy historical subject in both China and Taiwan.

The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, part of the U.S. and British-led alliance, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan, putting on pause a bitter civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists whose military also fought the Japanese.

The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao, and Republic of China remains the democratic island's official name.

Four sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Lai will host foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Taipei on Thursday and give a speech about the 80th anniversary of the war's end.

This marks the first time that Taiwan will formally commemorated the victory of the war in Europe. By doing so Lai is expected to call on the island's friends to unite in the face of the growing aggression from China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, two of the sources said.

"The victory in World War Two came from the unity of these nations, and it's important to note that aggression must be defeated. All these peace-loving nations must unite," the source said.

The source said Lai is likely to remind the world that democracies are now facing the same threats to democracy as 80 years ago, pointing to examples including China's military aggression, political coercion and disinformation campaigns.

Taiwan's presidential office did not respond to a request for comment.

China's foreign ministry, asked about Taiwan's interpretation of the war and the events it is planning to mark its end, said the "distortion of history, tampering with facts and spreading of lies and fallacies" had long been a ploy of its ruling party.

"Bringing about the reunification of the motherland and national rejuvenation are the best ways to commemorate the victory in the war," it said in a statement sent to Reuters.

XI EXPECTED AT MOSCOW MILITARY PARADE

Lai will be speaking ahead of the following day's military parade in Moscow hosted by President Vladimir Putin to mark the war's end, which Russia's government says Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, a position the government in Taipei rejects.

The event will be held at the Taipei Guest House, the sources said, the residence of the governor general under Japanese colonial rule of Taiwan, which ended in 1945.

A second source familiar with Lai's event next week said it was also about Taiwan trying to take back the narrative about the war from China.

"Lai has a strong sense of history," the source said, pointing to previous comments from him including last year where he said if China's claims on Taiwan are about territorial integrity then it should also take back land from Russia signed over by the last Chinese dynasty in the 19th century.

Lai, who took office in May last year, is condemned by Beijing as a "separatist". He says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Joe Cash in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)