The so-called history war — in which nations contested over their perception of wartime history as we marked the 70th year since the end of World War II — appears to have finally subsided for now. In terms of Sino-Japanese relations, we can refer to the recent statement by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (Aug. 14), remarks by Emperor Akihito (Aug. 15), and the memorial address by Chinese President Xi Jinping (Sept. 3).

In his address, Xi proclaimed that "70 years ago today, the Chinese people, having fought tenaciously for 14 years, won the great victory of their War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression." Xi also emphasized that within the greater worldwide conflict "the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression started the earliest and lasted the longest." By stressing that China was the first among the Allied powers in World War II to become embroiled in conflict and fought the longest, Xi took a clear stance demanding a revision to more conventional historical accounts that have marginalized China's role in the war.

This passage from Xi's address is similar in tone to the speech made before the U.S. Congress by Soong May-ling — better known as Madame Chiang Kai-shek — in February 1943 at the very height of the Pacific War. Like Xi, Soong stressed that China, unaided, had been the first to take up the fight against Japanese aggression. Whereas she described the length of China's war against Japanese aggression as "five and a half years" in her address, Xi described the same conflict as 14 years in duration. It seems likely that in expanding the timeline of the conflict, Xi made shrewd use of the appeal by Emperor Akihito in his 2015 "New year thoughts" regarding the importance of "taking this opportunity to study and learn from the history of this war, starting with the Manchurian Incident of 1931."