Vincent Chang in The Diplomat on historical revisionism in official WW2 commemorations

In his new article for The Diplomat, LAC research fellow Vincent Chang analyses how state actors across the Asia-Pacific are revising their official memory to signal new alliances amidst rising geopolitical tensions. He explains how official memory is shifting in nations as China, Japan and the Unites States, and what these changes can tell us about strategic aims of state actors.

As he argues: “These ongoing shifts in World War II remembrance show us that the past is not a mere encumbrance but rather a productive resource for global actors, who make selective use of the past as an instrument for articulating values, striking alliances, and furthering policy agendas.”