Memory of World War II as a factor in contemporary U.S.-China relations

Abstract

This article explores how the memory of World War II affects contemporary US-China relations. Despite the fact that both of these countries were in the camp of the victorious powers, actively cooperated in the fight against a common enemy - Japan, and seemed to have retained the warmest memories of their “fighting brotherhood”, the study of their memorial practices leads to much less optimistic conclusions. In the PRC, the memory of the Second World War up to the 1990s was deliberately removed from the socio-political discourse. Then, as part of the transition from the communist to the nationalist ideology, the interest in the events of the war years increased, but they were interpreted in a spirit of victimization, with an emphasis on the sufferings endured by the Chinese people as a result of external aggression. Today, the memory of World War II is being used in China to underpin an active foreign policy, which is considered to be aimed at preventing the repetition of the terrible tragedies of the past. For Americans, victory in World War II was originally a symbol of the transformation of the United States into a Pacific power, a rationale for regional leadership. Until China claimed the same role, the memory of US-Chinese military cooperation could be used as a diplomatic tool; it was also possible to talk about the “foundation of friendship” on which bilateral relations were based. Today, this technique no longer works, a common victory does not bring the United States and China closer, but drives them apart dragging the countries to the opposite sides of the barricades.