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Tuesday, January 25, 2000

Japanese denial of Nanjing Massacre
deplorable

Published: January 25, 2000
Source:
The China Post

t is deplorable and outrageous that a group of Japanese
rightists held a conference in Osaka on Sunday questioning the 1937
Nanjing Massacre which they called "the biggest lie of the 20th
century."

To deny the atrocities committed by Japan's
imperial army after the fall of the city is an act of cowardice. It
reflects Japan's lack of courage to face history. There are still
many living witnesses to the massacre, in which more than 300,000
Chinese people, including women and children, were slaughtered,
raped and maimed by rampaging Japanese soldiers.

No wonder
the Chinese people are indignant. Most Japanese regret that such a
conference was allowed to take place at all. "The people claiming
there was no Nanjing Massacre, including the organizers of this
conference, are the people who would maintain that Japan's war in
mainland China was legitimate, that it was not an invasion," said
Tokushi Kasahara, a professor of Chinese modern history at Tsuru
University in Tokyo."

All wars are tragic, as they bring
untold suffering to the people. Nazi Germany committed genocide
against the Jews during World War II, but the Germans did not deny
the existence of the Holocaust. In contrast, many Japanese are still
reluctant to face the history of the last World War and are trying
to whitewash the crimes against humanity. The Japanese government,
for instance, has refused to admit the existence of not only the
Nanjing Massacre, but also the hundreds of Korean and Chinese
comfort women forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers.

Denials of past atrocities by Japanese rightists as well as
by certain Japanese government officials attest to the fact that
Japan as a whole is unwilling to face its past and repent
wrongdoing. For years, the Japanese government has tried to avoid
telling Japanese students the truth about its invasion of mainland
China and of other parts of Asia during World War II, and textbooks
fail to mention that dishonorable portion of their history.

But efforts to disguise such horrible crimes do not and will
not change the undeniable historical data. Such facts are well
recorded and documented, and are part of contemporary history.
Fortunately, there are still many conscientious and honest Japanese
people, including well-known historians, who have come forward to
refute the absurd views held by a handful of narrow-minded,
extremist nationalists who are trying to negate history. Such
efforts will prove futile because the annals of history tell no
lies. To say that Nanjing Massacre was a "big lie" is in fact "the
biggest lie of the 20th century."