 For the sake of Chinese reunification and appeasing the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, the PRC has begun to acknowledge the Nationalists and the Communists as equal contributors, because the victory over Japan belonged to the Chinese people, rather than to any political party.The Nationalists suffered higher casualties because they were the main combatants opposing the Japanese in each of the 22 major battles (involving more than 100,000 troops on both sides) between China and Japan.The Communist forces, by contrast, usually avoided pitched battles with the Japanese and generally limited their combat to guerilla actions (the Hundred Regiments Offensive and the Battle of Pingxingguan are notable exceptions).