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Thursday, 23 February 2012
China complains to Japan over Nanjing massacre denial
China said Wednesday it had made an official complaint to Tokyo after the mayor of a Japanese city denied the well-documented massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops in 1937.
China complains to Japan over Nanjing massacre denial
By Boris Cambreleng | AFP News 22 February 2012
China said Wednesday it had made an official complaint to Tokyo after the mayor of a Japanese city denied the well-documented massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops in 1937.
China says 300,000 people were killed that year in an orgy of murder, rape and destruction when the eastern city of Nanjing -- then the capital -- fell to the Japanese army, and the incident has haunted Sino-Japanese ties ever since.
“On the denial of the Nanjing massacre by the mayor of Nagoya, China has already expressed its solemn position and made a solemn complaint to the Japanese side,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing.
Luo Zhaohui, head of the foreign ministry’s Asian affairs department, said China was “strongly dissatisfied” with the denial, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Takashi Kawamura, mayor of Nagoya, told Liu Zhiwei, a high-level Chinese official visiting from Nanjing, that he believes only a “conventional fight” took place, Kawamura’s office told AFP.
During talks on Monday between the two -- whose cities were twinned in 1978 -- Kawamura, whose father was in Nanjing in 1945 at the end of the Japanese occupation of China, denied that mass murders and rapes happened.
“I doubt that the Nanjing massacre had happened, even though a conventional fight took place,” Kawamura said.
Some Japanese academics also contest the number of casualties in Nanjing, and say estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000.
China’s consulate in Nagoya telephoned the mayor on Tuesday to register a protest over the comments, but has not directed its complaints at the city, Kawamura’s office said.
Kawamura’s comments have triggered outrage in China and the Nanjing municipal party committee announced on its official Twitter-like weibo account late Tuesday it had suspended ties with Nagoya -- a decision supported by Beijing, Hong said.
Despite the controversy, Kawamura, a former lower house lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, on Wednesday was unrepentant about his views.
“As the disagreement over the incident is like a sting in a throat, I’ve proposed to hold a debate on it,” he said, adding he wants to visit Nanjing to explain his position on the issue.
“I hope to continue friendly exchanges between Nagoya and Nanjing.”
Before China’s official reaction, Japan’s top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said the spat caused by Kawamura’s remarks “should be settled appropriately by the local governments of Nagoya and Nanjing.”
“It isn’t a matter for the state to interfere,” he said.
Fujimira, the chief cabinet secretary, also refuted Kawamura’s view on the Nanjing massacre, saying “we cannot deny that the killing of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred” following the Japanese imperial army’s advance into Nanjing.
Many people in China still feel resentment towards Japan, which waged a war against its giant neighbour from 1937 to 1945, occupying vast swathes of the country.
Relations between the two countries have steadily warmed since 2006, when they began to put behind them decades of distrust, but ties are still fragile and have been rocked by spot incidents in recent years.
In September 2010, ties plunged to their lowest in years after Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain whose vessel had collided with Japanese coastguard ships in waters around disputed islands. He was later released.
This pic is the Second Wushe Incident/Second Musha Incident. Decapitated heads of surrendered revels (Seediq of Mahebo, Boalun, Hogo, Rodof, Tarowan, Suku). They were protected near the Sakura police substation. But, in 25 April 1931, Seediq of Tautua (behind decapitated heads, they were one of the Mikata-Bans) assulted and beheaded them. Date: 25 April 1931
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China complains to Japan over Nanjing massacre denial
By Boris Cambreleng | AFP News
22 February 2012
China said Wednesday it had made an official complaint to Tokyo after the mayor of a Japanese city denied the well-documented massacre of Chinese civilians by Japanese troops in 1937.
China says 300,000 people were killed that year in an orgy of murder, rape and destruction when the eastern city of Nanjing -- then the capital -- fell to the Japanese army, and the incident has haunted Sino-Japanese ties ever since.
“On the denial of the Nanjing massacre by the mayor of Nagoya, China has already expressed its solemn position and made a solemn complaint to the Japanese side,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a regular briefing.
Luo Zhaohui, head of the foreign ministry’s Asian affairs department, said China was “strongly dissatisfied” with the denial, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Takashi Kawamura, mayor of Nagoya, told Liu Zhiwei, a high-level Chinese official visiting from Nanjing, that he believes only a “conventional fight” took place, Kawamura’s office told AFP.
During talks on Monday between the two -- whose cities were twinned in 1978 -- Kawamura, whose father was in Nanjing in 1945 at the end of the Japanese occupation of China, denied that mass murders and rapes happened.
“I doubt that the Nanjing massacre had happened, even though a conventional fight took place,” Kawamura said.
Some Japanese academics also contest the number of casualties in Nanjing, and say estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000.
China’s consulate in Nagoya telephoned the mayor on Tuesday to register a protest over the comments, but has not directed its complaints at the city, Kawamura’s office said.
Kawamura’s comments have triggered outrage in China and the Nanjing municipal party committee announced on its official Twitter-like weibo account late Tuesday it had suspended ties with Nagoya -- a decision supported by Beijing, Hong said.
Despite the controversy, Kawamura, a former lower house lawmaker with the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, on Wednesday was unrepentant about his views.
“As the disagreement over the incident is like a sting in a throat, I’ve proposed to hold a debate on it,” he said, adding he wants to visit Nanjing to explain his position on the issue.
“I hope to continue friendly exchanges between Nagoya and Nanjing.”
Before China’s official reaction, Japan’s top government spokesman Osamu Fujimura said the spat caused by Kawamura’s remarks “should be settled appropriately by the local governments of Nagoya and Nanjing.”
“It isn’t a matter for the state to interfere,” he said.
Fujimira, the chief cabinet secretary, also refuted Kawamura’s view on the Nanjing massacre, saying “we cannot deny that the killing of noncombatants, looting and other acts occurred” following the Japanese imperial army’s advance into Nanjing.
Many people in China still feel resentment towards Japan, which waged a war against its giant neighbour from 1937 to 1945, occupying vast swathes of the country.
Relations between the two countries have steadily warmed since 2006, when they began to put behind them decades of distrust, but ties are still fragile and have been rocked by spot incidents in recent years.
In September 2010, ties plunged to their lowest in years after Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain whose vessel had collided with Japanese coastguard ships in waters around disputed islands. He was later released.
This pic is the Second Wushe Incident/Second Musha Incident. Decapitated heads of surrendered revels (Seediq of Mahebo, Boalun, Hogo, Rodof, Tarowan, Suku). They were protected near the Sakura police substation. But, in 25 April 1931, Seediq of Tautua (behind decapitated heads, they were one of the Mikata-Bans) assulted and beheaded them.
Date: 25 April 1931
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