TAIPEI, Taiwan: Taiwan is pushing back against China's efforts to shape the history of World War II, after Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump highlighted the wartime alliance between their countries at their recent summit.

The issue has raised concern in Taipei because Taiwan fears that Washington could adopt Beijing's version of the war, which could affect U.S. support for the island, particularly since Washington is Taiwan's main source of weapons.

Taiwan is governed democratically but is claimed by China as part of its territory. Its government says Beijing's account of World War II omits an important part of history because the Republic of China was the government in power at the time and fought alongside the Allied forces.

The Republic of China government moved to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist forces. It has continued to use the Republic of China as its formal name.

China says communist guerrilla forces were the "backbone" of resistance against Japan during the war. Its official account gives much less attention to the role played by the Republic of China government and its forces.

At a state dinner in Washington, D.C., on September 24, Xi and Trump both spoke positively about the role their countries played together during World War II.

A White House fact sheet issued after the summit said the two leaders recalled that the U.S. and China "were allies in World War II and fought side by side to win the war".

Shen Yu-chung, deputy head of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, said Xi was trying to place the People's Republic of China at the center of the historical account of World War II.

Shen said Taiwan would continue to send information to the U.S. to make clear that the Republic of China had been a close American ally throughout the war.

The White House, U.S. State Department and China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not respond to requests for comment.

Taiwan's Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu accused Beijing of trying to replace what Taiwan considers the accurate historical record.

"China is trying to replace the Republic of China's role during World War II," Wu said. "I think this is something we should feel very sad about."

During last year's 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei accused China of promoting what it called false narratives about the war in an effort to pressure Taiwan.

Chen Fang-yu, an associate professor at Taipei's Soochow University, said Taiwan faced the difficult task of challenging China's historical narrative among Americans.

He said China had large propaganda resources and continued to use different methods to influence public opinion in the United States.

The history of World War II is also debated within Taiwan. The island was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945, adding another layer to how the war is remembered there.

Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally promoted a separate Taiwanese identity and a history distinct from China.

The main opposition party, the Kuomintang, or KMT, was the Republic of China's ruling party during World War II. It said Taiwan's government was correct about the Republic of China's historical role but accused it of criticizing Beijing mainly for political reasons.