Will China and Russia's WWII narrative resonate with the world?

South China Morning Post

13-05-2025

When Chinese President Xi Jinping
travelled to Moscow , many headlines focused on energy talks, bilateral cooperation and handshakes signalling deeper
China–Russia ties . However, another type of strategy was unfolding behind the formalities, one rooted not in policy, but in narrative.
In their joint statements and ceremonial remarks, Chinese and Russian officials weren't simply affirming mutual interests. They were rewriting the language of legitimacy. History, the United Nations and the actions of the United States and Japan were all interpreted through a lens that
challenges the foundations of the post-World War II global arena.
At the centre of this narrative strategy lies a deliberate reinterpretation of historical events. The
commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II was not used as a moment of unity with the West. Instead, the war was framed as a two-front struggle in which China and the Soviet Union bore the primary burden of defeating fascism.
The US, Britain or Poland and the broader Allied coalition, so central to conventional Western narratives of the war, were absent. There was no mention of the Pacific theatre in the form typically understood in Western histories, and no reference to
D-Day or the Western Front as decisive moments in the conflict.
Instead, the narrative emphasised the Asian and European fronts with China and the Soviet Union standing together, resisting Japanese militarism and Nazi aggression. The defeat of fascism was not only a shared sacrifice but a shared legacy that now justifies the moral authority of both states.
This is not simply a different interpretation of history; it is a claim to contemporary legitimacy that positions China and Russia as inheritors of the true anti-fascist tradition. The main goal is to reshape the post-1989 world order, one in which international law and small- and medium-sized countries function in the system under US hegemony.