api.php?action=purge&forcelinkupdate(&pageids=123) should also update wikibase_item value in page_props and all rows of langlinks table for this requested page on a wiki. So a purge should sync the information stored on a client wiki with data fetched from repository. This currently requires a null edit.
Note that this must also be done when purge is requested with forcerecursivelinkupdate instead of forcelinkupdate.