False claims are being spread on social media in Southern Europe that the People’s Republic of China defeated Japan in the Second World War. In reality, the PRC was proclaimed only in 1949, after the war had already ended, so it could not have taken part in the fighting, let alone achieved victory. Fakes and exaggerations about the role of the Chinese Communists in past events were exposed by fact-checkers from the Balkan project “Vistinomer”.

During the Second World War, a different state existed – the Republic of China, led by Chiang Kai-shek and his Kuomintang party. It was this army, together with its allies, that fought large-scale battles against the Japanese occupiers. The Chinese Communist forces under Mao Zedong also took part in the resistance, but their role was significantly smaller. In 1945, Japan capitulated to the United States, the USSR, Britain, France, other Allied countries, and the Republic of China. The communist People’s Republic of China did not yet exist at that time.

The act of capitulation was formalized on 2 September 1945 aboard the American ship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. General Douglas MacArthur signed the document on behalf of the Allied forces, and a representative of the Kuomintang signed on behalf of China. The Chinese Communist Party was not present at the ceremony.

Despite this, during a parade in Beijing on 3 September, the current communist authorities of the PRC presented history as if the decisive role in the victory had been played by the Communists. At the same time, the Republic of China was mentioned only in passing, and foreign allies were thanked without naming specific countries.

Thus, the manipulative statements spread by certain politicians and social media users ignore the real course of events and replace historical facts with propagandistic narratives.