China's high-profile celebration of the Communist Party's Long March is drawing criticism for clashing with Beijing's attempt to cast itself as a founding pillar of the post-WWII world order.

• Xi Jinping led a ceremony marking 90 years since the Red Army's Long March, calling for the country to "walk a new Long March" in today's politics.
• Officials familiar with international affairs point out the Long March was actually a retreat from a civil war against the Republic of China government, not a fight against Japan, even though the Party has long framed it as wartime resistance.
• The contradiction matters diplomatically: Beijing markets itself abroad as a key architect and "pillar" of the WWII victory and the UN-based postwar order, while also celebrating an internal armed revolt against the wartime Chinese government of that same era.
• Domestically, the Long March myth is used to demand loyalty to Xi's leadership and to distract from economic and geopolitical pressure at home.
• Critics argue this selective rewriting of history undercuts China's credibility and that Beijing should instead stick to historical facts and international norms to earn global trust.

Outlook: Expect Beijing to keep leaning on Long March symbolism to shore up internal loyalty to Xi, even as the historical inconsistency continues to draw pushback from critics abroad.