Taiwan announced Monday that it will hold a military parade marking the end of World War II this year for the first time, as it vies with China over the history of the conflict.

The move comes after China announced its plans to hold a military parade this year marking the 70th anniversary of the defeat of Japan in 1945.

The Taiwanese military will stage its own parade at a base in Hsinchu in the north of the county in July, Wang Ming-wuo, the head of the political warfare bureau at the defence ministry, told reporters Monday.

Taiwan's government is concerned that the role played by Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang troops in defeating Japan could be forgotten as the communist government in Beijing lauds the part played by Mao Zedong's forces.

Taiwan's ruling Kuomintang party has come under fire for cosying up to Beijing, which still claims the island as part of its territory more than 65 years after it split from the mainland. 

The Japanese military invaded China in 1937 and the two countries fought a full-scale war until 1945, during which 3.2 million Kuomintang soldiers died, according to Kuomintang government tallies.

The Kuomintang government later fled the mainland after their troops were crushed by the Chinese communist forces in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

Since Ma Ying-jeou of the Kuomintang party came to power on the island in 2008, China has been forced to admit the party contributed in the fight against Japan.  

But Wang said China -- which on Sunday urged Japan to be "sincere" about its wartime role -- could benefit from its own advice.

"The mainland's foreign minister Wang Yi said in a press conference that Japan had lost the war 70 years ago," Wang said.

"We hope the mainland, when asking others to face history, could use the same attitude towards itself regarding the issues of war against Japan." (+++++)