Why Russia's screening of an 81-year-old Soviet-era film in front of a small audience has upset Taiwan

In a small meeting room in an office building in downtown Taipei, Russian officials organized an unusual screening of an old Soviet documentary film titled "The Collapse of Militaristic Japan" for about two dozen Taiwanese guests, Reuters news agency reported today.

Despite the small attendance, the screening of the 81-year-old film has unsettled the Taiwanese government, which sees Russia as helping China promote a narrative of a growing military threat from Japan and seeking to sow discord in Taipei's relations with Tokyo and other Western partners.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested last year that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Japan, leading to a diplomatic crisis between Tokyo and Beijing and prompting Beijing to repeatedly warn that Japan was seeking to return to its aggressive past.

Officials in Taiwan say they believe last week's closed-door screening of the film, organized by the de facto Russian embassy in Taipei, is part of a new effort to expand and reinforce China's narrative about the "new militarism" of Japan, a key, if unofficial, ally of Taipei.

The Russian Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said it was not aware of the screening of the old Soviet-era film.

It added that Allied powers, including China, Russia and the United States (US), defeated Japanese militarism and that "preserving and promoting a correct historical view of World War II is the shared responsibility of the international community."

"The collapse of militaristic Japan"

A black-and-white film from 1945, "The Defeat of Militaristic Japan," was shown, the title of which was translated into Chinese by the Russian representative office on Facebook as "The Collapse of Militaristic Japan."

The film, available on YouTube under the title "The Defeat of Japan," shows footage of the Soviet invasion of Japanese-occupied Manchuria and the Kuril Islands. The narrator denounces the "plundering philosophy of the divine superiority of the Japanese race," and footage of Japanese atrocities against Chinese civilians is also shown.

The film's screening touches on a sensitive issue for Taiwan: freedom of speech is protected by the constitution, but there are also laws, including the 2019 Anti-Infiltration Act, aimed at preventing hostile foreign powers - primarily China - from covertly influencing Taiwanese politics.

There were no police in front of the screening site, nor were there any attempts to prevent the event.

Taiwan's National Security Council, the top government body responsible for security and counterintelligence, told Reuters, when asked about the projection, that it was "closely monitoring" Sino-Russian military cooperation and cooperation in the field of "cognitive warfare."

"The two countries are trying to amplify certain topics and distort historical facts and political issues," the Council said.

Taiwanese officials have said Russia poses a new challenge because Moscow can access some contacts in Taiwan with less direct legal oversight than would be the case with Chinese officials, whose activities are subject to Taiwanese security laws.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry told Reuters that about 20 people from "academic circles" had been invited to the screening.

While Taiwan respects the "lawful conduct of normal exchanges," the activities organized by the Russian mission "should also respect historical facts and be consistent with universal values ​​such as democracy and freedom," the ministry added.

Invitation-only event

Employees of the Russian embassy, ​​including deputy ambassador Sergei Chudodeyev, did not allow Reuters journalists to attend the screening, stating that the event was intended exclusively for guests.

After the screening, Russian representative Pavel Lapin said that Moscow's representative office in Taipei hopes to organize similar events in the future, according to a person who attended the event.

"The Soviet Union and the Chinese people suffered the greatest losses in that war. Their contribution to the crushing of German fascism and Japanese militarism is undeniable and cannot be diminished," the Russian mission said in a Facebook post on the occasion of the screening.

A person who attended the event said that those present included former journalists, business people, academics and other public figures.

China and Russia issued a joint statement in August warning against the remilitarization of the Asia-Pacific region.

According to diplomatic sources, Russian diplomats in Taipei have largely stayed out of the public eye since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

The Russian mission in Taipei was opened in 1996 and has always had a much less public presence than the de facto embassies of countries and organizations such as the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, diplomatic sources say.

"Trick"

China's Taiwan Affairs Office dismissed Taiwan's concerns about the film as "another ploy to manipulate anti-China sentiment for political gain."

Taiwan has been on Russia's list of "hostile" countries and territories since it joined other Western allies in imposing sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, while senior Russian officials have openly supported China's claims to the democratically governed island.

Moscow and Tokyo also have a decades-long dispute over Russia's seizure of four Kuril islands north of Japan at the end of World War II. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited one of them last month, drawing condemnation from Tokyo.