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China says Nanjing more worthy of remembrance than Hiroshima

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"China’s Communist party mouthpiece"

I recall a lecture at uni in the 70s about journalistic phrasing. Bias much?

-15 ( +17 / -32 )

China said on Friday that Japan’s World War II violence is more worthy of remembrance than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

China sulking as usual because it's not getting the attention it thinks it deserves. -_-

23 ( +40 / -17 )

Sorry, but I'm with the Chinese on this one. Japan asked for all it got.

-18 ( +35 / -52 )

For the Chinese, Tiananmen is more worthy of remembrance than anything they have talked about here.

39 ( +49 / -10 )

June 4, 1989 massacre - china did to its own citizen?

40 ( +46 / -6 )

China needs to get it's mouth in the picture somehow, the summit, and their not being a part of it bugs the hell out of them to no end. Anything to put a damper on the giddiness Japan (Abe) is feeling after playing host.

23 ( +28 / -5 )

Don't point your finger unless you can remove the plank from thine own eye.

Nobody is innocent.

23 ( +25 / -2 )

As Obama has gone to Hiroshima, only Abe (or whoever is the next PM) can go to Nanjing

7 ( +15 / -8 )

How tasteless to bring the old "my massacre is more worthy than yours" on this day. It's not a competition folks.

47 ( +51 / -4 )

That was a very insensitive and untimely comment by China spoke person. Perhaps, the world should also remember the over 45 MILLION Chinese deaths by FAMINE by THEIR OWN GOVERNMENT when they actually HAD FOOD!

Remember the Great Chinese Famine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Chinese_Famine

Video Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-woaDniFQc

36 ( +37 / -1 )

Why not stop publicising news from China as anything they say is immature, boorish and ridiculous.

21 ( +28 / -7 )

crass, immature, hypocritical

25 ( +28 / -3 )

Japan Today, very bias.

-17 ( +12 / -29 )

Japan denies any massacre in Nanjing.

Japanese troops were very well-disciplined. They even gave chocolates to the children.

They even had head- cutting contest , now copied in Iraq and Syria, which they now refer as 'Nanjing Incident '.

Meanwhile the Atomic bombing of Hiroshima was so brutal to civilians, especially women and children and the elderly.

So PM Abe will never do an Obama in Nanjing.

Especially now that Uncle Sam is their bodyguard.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Classy China, really classy.

I think of one of the things I really don't like about living in Japan is these issues swirling around year after year after year. Most people let things go after 70 years.

9 ( +14 / -5 )

Not sure if any Japanese PM would survive the trip.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

More Japanese will die. Obviously, 140,000 or twice of that (counting the other bomb) that died means nothing, no lesson learned.

-20 ( +2 / -22 )

An opportunity for China to again expose the lack of memory by the Japanese. This will never go away until Japan really, truly apologizes for their past.

But, you see, Japan will NEVER apologize to any other the countries they raped and pillaged. Cold hard truth. And they will never teach it or talk about it. Over time, it will disappear(or so they hope).

Just stating the obvious.

-20 ( +12 / -32 )

To China, the Nanjing massacre IS more important. And for me many other war incidents speak to me more than Hiroshima.

-3 ( +11 / -14 )

Frankly if I were an editor of Japan Today, or any publication for that matter, I wouldn't waste any column space with such drivel. This is purely Chinese propaganda and another attempt by them to throw their newly found heavy weight around. It's tiresome but more importantly it's off topic and not worthy of mention, even if they are trying to be the big new bully on the block.

I think Japan has been very gracious in their past and publication of this article is proof of their tendency to bend over backwards to give opposing sides fair coverage.

By the way, if China is so concerned about people admitting past wrongs, I wonder why they have yet to even remotely approach or even admit the tens of millions - perhaps upward of one hundred million - of their own people murdered by the same political party that still calls the shots from Beijing. Now that has a bit fresher shelf life to it and has even some of the active players still around to share some of that blame. Or perhaps that one is too much like the painful truth?

19 ( +22 / -3 )

China says Nanjing more worthy of remembrance than Hiroshima

I think we all know that in 200 years, If we are lucky, the only thing most people all over the planet will remember about WWII is Hiroshima. Because of nukes.

All else will be filed under Savage Wars those Long Ago People Fought Because They Were Barely Civilized.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

When teaching the TOEFL, I emphasize the ability to distinguish between topic and controlling idea. Perhaps the closest to a topic sentence in Obama's speech was:

Nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.

Arguably, the topic is nuclear weapons, and the controlling idea that their possession is a result of cowardice and a hindrance to the further development of the human spirit.

Nanjing was a crime, but China bringing it up in this way is off-topic.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Let's not forget China's terrible suffering after being attacked and invaded ( without provocation) by the japanese army. Nanjing, Unit 731, and a lot more. Japan has honed its victim status to a fine art and many are taken in by it. China's frustration and anger is understandable.

-8 ( +9 / -16 )

I often wonder if there are just no concepts of churlish and petulant in China, or whether the country's mouthpieces are just determined to present the country in that way.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Nanjing is no more 'worthy' of attention than any other atrocity; they all need to be acknowledged and remembered as the horrible events that they were so that they will not be repeated. There are various political reasons why Hiroshima (and even THAT gets far more attention than Nagasaki) gets more media focus, despite those reasons not making it right.

Sadly, I doubt any Japanese leaders are going to jump at the chance to go visit the massacre memorial, especially ones like Abe who won't really admit it happened at all, which is why you're not going to see the same kind of moving moments and reconciliation. I applaud the former IJA troops who go there and express their sympathies and/or apologize, as well as the people who acknowledge it in general, but another reason why it will not be visited or there be an apology, as deserving as it is of one, is because of how the media there would use it. If people were wary about how the right-wing here would spin an Obama visit/apology, they should be very wary of how China would deal with it. Granted, China WAS a complete and total victim at the time, unlike Japan which started the Pacific War, but current politicians would use it to their own ends instead of what it should be intended for.

6 ( +18 / -13 )

I'm not sure ifs more worthy, but it's equally worthy, that's for sure. However, once again we see China missing the point. The point of Hiroshima remembrance is the use of nuclear weapons, which, hopefully, will never happen again. Yet, we should not forget, the fire bombings of Tokyo killed more people than the two bombs combined.

That comment about the G-7 group staying out Asian neighbor trouble is so typically China! One of the reasons there is a G-7 is because of China. As for the exaggerated numbers of deaths at Nanjing. If China seriously wants the world to remember this atrocity they need to stop using it a basis for hate speech and anti-Japan propaganda.

16 ( +18 / -2 )

The problem with the world is what China just did by issuing this statement about comparing brutal wartime situations: Instead of China praising Obama for being the first American President to visit Hiroshima, they took this as an opportunity to remind Americans that our President should remember China's Nanking massacre as well. China could've taken the high road and improved relations perhaps a little bit with both the Japanese and America by saying something positive about this situation, but instead, it chose to be provocative and increase tensions all around. Unbelievable.

My ma always used to point out to me that if I don't have anything good to say, then don't say nothing at all. Maybe China could take that simple life lesson and apply it next time a world leader decides to try and do something in the name of peace and goodwill?

13 ( +15 / -2 )

@sabrage. As @goldotrak said it's not a competition.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Our suffering is worse than your suffering.

Petty. Small. Childish.

All the hallmarks of a dictatorship that needs and external enemy to take the focus off its own incompetence.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

Seeking attention, China?

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Hiroshima and Nagasaki are the only times nuclear weapons have been used to kill people.

That is the significance. That's what makes it unique. There's no debating this. Nanjing has nothing to do with it.

I think Japan deserved whatever it got as a result of their wartime attrocities, but it doesn't take away from the significance of the atomic bombings in a historical sense.

5 ( +11 / -6 )

Japan abandoned peaceful promises, and created threats to the regional security situation

Apart from Ishihara's move to nationalize those islands, what else has Japan done that shows they abandoned peaceful promises AND created threats to the regional security?

11 ( +14 / -3 )

China should keep its mouth shut, they are lucky people don't look closer at its third hand account of that so called massacre. You use the dead to gain political support...shameful.

deep respect to ALL sides should be the view of the war.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

China says Nanjing more worthy of remembrance than Hiroshima

That's why you have no friends.

10 ( +15 / -5 )

But, you see, Japan will NEVER apologize to any other the countries they raped and pillaged. Cold hard truth. And they will never teach it or talk about it. Over time, it will disappear(or so they hope). Just stating the obvious.

Actually, just stating the bogus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_war_apology_statements_issued_by_Japan

A fair point. Up to 300,000 civilians were raped, and murdered in Nanking. There was also a notorious head lopping contest.

American who have studied this incident put the number at around 60,000. John Rabe a German who witnessed the event and who was involved in relief work put the number at 50,000.

http://www.japanesestudies.org.uk/articles/Askew.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Man_of_Nanking

The "head lopping contest" has been proved to be a fiction of the wartime Japanese press. It perhaps illustrates the editorial stance of the papers but does not appear to be historical fact.

Get the sources for the academic debunking of this claim from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Every country on the planet has comitted war atrocities at some point or another and they still continue today. It is a sad legacy of human nature to murder each other. People should stop focusing on blame and start accepting responsibility.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

What kind of idiot compares horrific tragedies and tries to rank them? Whenever any innocent people are killed in a war, in a disaster or in come conflict it is worthy of remembrance and compassion. Ranking them is a bone headed arrogant way of thinking that is why we continuously have tragedies.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

Ungrateful considering that China was the biggest winner from the atomic bombings.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

This is the very height of cynicism and the extreme opposite of wisdom. It's sad that often the worst of humanity become leaders and really dishonor the potential of humanity. Some of these leaders seek nothing, even rhetorically, greater than their small closed minds and seem devoid of the higher qualities we aspire to, like love, compassion, forgiveness, imagination, transcendence, etc. These kinds of comments really show how undeserving of power and position some people are and show their severe limitations. The Korean and Japanese leadership don't seem all that much better but at least they sometimes avoid overt shows of pointless rhetorical deafness to the world outside their small privileged circles. Obama, whatever his weaknesses and moral (policy) failings, probably gives some thought to his effect on people and may be the last American president for a decade that people around the world will respect and want to meet. The Chinese leadership make no effort to rise above pettiness and really misses an opportunity to do more with its power than fend for parochial itself. Using tragedy this way shows a not-ready-for-prime-time state of being. Next up: Trump!

7 ( +7 / -0 )

Dropping the atomic bombs in Japan was a necessity to end the mass killing that would continue the WWII, whereas as the random killings by the Japanese soldiers in Nanking China resulted in millions of defenseless civilians and the raping and killing of hundred of thousands of Chinese women there was much worse than the atomic bombs dropping in Japan. While Obama paid visit to Japan to express sadness of deaths of Japanese civilians as a result of their government wrongdoings, he should express a much deeper sadness on the bigger scale of deaths committed by the Japanese soldiers against the Chinese innocent civilians in WWII.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Is China on target with this? Yes. Is China completely innocent? No. Was this good timing? Probably not. Was it a classy move? No. If we were to compare these two events, Nanking is definitely worse than Hiroshima.

-5 ( +8 / -13 )

It seems that Japan is just appealing no more atomic bombs (weapons) to the world and they do not want to see second Hiroshima/Nagasaki somewhere. No more atomic victims in the future. That is all about it. Nanjing seems not issue and Pearl Harbor also seems not issue.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Anyone knows they hide the fact that MAO TSE TUNG committed genocide against more than 3 million of it´s own people...so they distract the attention with exaggerated numbers and events...blaming others for their own weaknesses and vulnerabilities...

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Let's also remember the millions killed by Mass Murderer Mao and those who died in Tiananmen Square.

14 ( +16 / -2 )

Hiroshima has canotation with nuclear atomic bomb in a different classification on its own. Regarding the atrocity of wars, the holocaust, Mao tse tung's mass murder by millions, and the killing field of Khmer rouge inspired by Maoism, and Tibet's cultural genocide by communist China have even greater historical implications, and that is the real history; China!

7 ( +9 / -2 )

“Victims deserve sympathy, but perpetrators should never shirk their responsibility,” told a huddle of reporters, state >>broadcaster CCTV showed.

Can't argue with that.

-2 ( +1 / -4 )

China should beware if they press PM Abe for an apology.

Sneaky Shinzo hammered a mother of all apology to South Korea regarding the "Comfort Women " issue with Pres. Obama as prime witness.

Japan even generously offered millions of dollars for a trust fund.

When South Korea accepted there was then that mysterious cirrus that floated with neon signs sayin: " See, they are only after the money after all!"

Poor Seoul!

Now Abe can even add, Look China! Pres. Obama didn't apologize while in Hiroshima so why the need for one in Nanjing!

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Typical of China to use this as a political football.

8 ( +10 / -3 )

Nappy rush. Seems he is wearing Chinese made nappies that discomfort him. No one in his right mind would put a competitive factor to such incredible genocides. American made or Japanese made for that matter. A true reflection of today's China? How primitive do they still want to get?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The "head lopping contest" has been proved to be a fiction of the wartime Japanese press. It perhaps illustrates the editorial stance of the papers but does not appear to be historical fact.

Erm, nope. That contest did happen. I am including the correct link, and if you read the link, you will see that The two "contestants'" families sued for defamation of character. The courts rejected their claims on the grounds that it actually happened.

Get the sources for the academic debunking of this claim from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contest_to_kill_100_people_using_a_sword

2 ( +5 / -3 )

What happened in Nanking was a massacre committed by the Japanese military. Their brutality matched that of present day ISIS.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Nanjing is important event but coming from a communist party that is is responsible for millions of it's own citizen's death is a little bit hypocritical and shallow.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Dear PRC,

I've been to the Nanjing memorial, and the Unit 731 museum in Haerbin; I've been to Nagasaki and Hiroshima; I've been to Hellfire Pass and ridden the Death Railway; I've been to Auschwitz, and Perm 36; none of them is more 'deserving' of remembrance than the others. They were all horrific and must all be remembered and honoured. It is not a competition.

But if it were a competition, we might ask:

Where is your memorial to the 30-something million Chinese who died in the Great Leap Backward? Where is your memorial to the millions killed in the Cultural Revolution? Where is your memorial to the thousands dead in the streets around Tiananmen Square?

No entity has more Chinese blood on its hands than the Chinese Communist Party. In other words, STFU.

7 ( +11 / -5 )

Yoshitsune, PRC now is like Yasukuni shrine where ALL souls are to be offered prayers and gratitude for serving their country.

Good for PM Abe not requesting President Obama pray at Yasukuni.

Great for Barack to instead offer prayers at Hiroshima!

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Japanese system has been creating young people who get annoyed by all the complaints China, South Korea and others make about war atrocities because they are not taught what they are complaining about. The J-government deliberately tries not to teach young people the details of Japan's atrocities. If you experience history education in two countries, the way history is taught in Japan has at least one advantage, students come away with a comprehensive understanding of when events happened, in what order. At the age of 14, young Japanese students are clueless of Japan's relations with the outside world. They are taught too late. Young Japanese people often fail to understand why neighboring countries harbor a grudge over events that happened in 1931-45. The reason, in many cases, is that by the time they reach high school, they barely learned any 20th century history. Many young Japanese got a full picture when they left Japan and went to school in foreign countries. It's hardly surprising that some classes, in some schools, never get there, and are told by teachers to finish the book in their spare time.

Many young people in Japan really don't understand the Japan's war history and making the point that many of today's geopolitical tensions stem from what happened then. In Japanese textbook, only a footnote on the Nanjing massacre. Why they couldn't go straight to that period if it was so important, instead of wasting time on the other subject. When students did finally get there, it turned out only few pages dealt with events between 1931-45. Reading many factual books on the incident at least allowed them to understand why many people in China, South Korea and others still feel bitter about Japan's military past.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Indigestion. China ... china china ... like a little teenager ... crying it lost its cell phone.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

@hiro

Yoshitsune, PRC now is like Yasukuni shrine where ALL souls are to be offered prayers and gratitude for serving their country.

Hi, I'm not sure what you mean. The People's Republic of China is like Yasukuni? I'm afraid I don't follow.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

China says Nanjing more worthy of remembrance than Hiroshima

Ok, I would say "equally worthy of remembrance". But the fact of the matter is, if many Japanese leaders hadn't gone out of their way to deny Nanking and erase it from the history books, then it would be a non-issue.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

I find it appalling that they would make such a comment. It's shows an incredible lack of empathy and a total absence of sensitivity. It's truly disgraceful.

Everybody KNOWS why the bombs were dropped. The fact remains that tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed by those bombings, and that is a ghastly thing to do REGARDLESS of what side of the fence you sit.

China have all the diplomatic nous of a Christmas Leg Ham. Seriously.

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Everybody KNOWS why the bombs were dropped. The fact remains that tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed by those bombings, and that is a ghastly thing to do REGARDLESS of what side of the fence you sit.

Yes, but how many people in Japan know what happened in Nanking? China may not have the moral high ground here as it were, but it doesn't mean they don't have a point.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

This kind of bickering is not really worth of G20 people.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

the Atom bombs were not necessary though. Japan had previously gone through the consulates Sweden and Russia asking for a diplomatic end to the war and was ignored. Russia for one did not pass on the request.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Son of his times, this president.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The suffering of innocent victims in Nanjing at the hands of Japanese soldiers does not justify the suffering of innocent victims in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese soldiers responsible for Nanjing are war criminals, but that does not justify the suffering of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

3 ( +4 / -2 )

His remark is callous, but Is it possible the offending English translation was distorted?

This is the report from Xinhua: " Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing on Friday that "It is worth paying attention to Hiroshima, but Nanjing should not be forgotten."

"Victims deserve sympathy, but perpetrators can never shirk their responsibility," Wang said.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

A typical way of using stratagem number 14, 借 屍 還 魂 Borrow a Corpse to Raise the Spirit

Action

Take something from the past and re-use it in some way.

This can include using variations on old ideas, bringing them up to date, adapting them to modern use or fitting them into a broader strategy.

Retired people can be brought back into action. Old regiments can be reformed. Institutions can be re-invigorated. Customs and traditions can be brought back. Anything that was once used, including symbols and memories of former glory can be pressed into service.

Associate yourself with older credible people and ideas. Make them your own to build your own image

Dont get it wrong: Both events should not be forgotten! Maybe one of the next G7 summit will be held in China???

0 ( +0 / -0 )

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. That said, China does have a point. Even if a lower number, say 50,000 men, women and children were massacred in Nanjing, that is enough to call for a Japanese PM to visit there and bow his head. But, since Japanese are so busy paying the "victim" card, and the LDP and PM are basically right-wing, this will never happen.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

tina, please show me where I ever said, even once, "The Japanese are uninformed".

You cannot, because I have never said any such thing.

As for having an 'eccentric attitude toward the Japanese'... well, I married one and gave birth to two more. Maybe you think that's eccentric. I think it's a sign of a rather positive attitude.

I'll take your apology as given.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Well said Cleo

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Yes, but how many people in Japan know what happened in Nanking?

I'm sorry, but the Atomic bombing of Japan has nothing to do with China, and it is bombastic and inappropriate for them to try to take this as an opportunity to grind an axe.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

“atomic bombings of Japan were of its own making”, Chinese Daily

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion/2016-05/26/content_25470026.htm

The misery the Japanese people suffered during the war, including that endured by the survivors of atomic bombings, was because of Japanese militarism.

Fact speaks ugly, but it is true. Simply putting the title could be misleading emotionally.

However, my sympathies to all war victims, it is regardless of facts or nations.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Erm, nope. That contest did happen. I am including the correct link, and if you read the link, you will see that The two "contestants'" families sued for defamation of character. The courts rejected their claims on the grounds that it actually happened.

The court did not rule on the historicity of the story. It ruled on whether Honda Katsuichi's use of the story constituted defamation or not.

 原告側の「死者への敬愛追慕の情を侵害した」との主張について、判決は「表現行為が違法となるのは『一見して明白に虚偽』である場合」との基準を示したうえで、記事は「両少尉が記者に百人斬り競争の話をしたことがきっかけで掲載された」などと認定。「本多氏が論拠とした関係者の著述なども一概に虚偽とは言えない」などとして、書籍の記述が「一見して明白に虚偽だとはいえない」と判断した。

Basically the quoted source says that to constitute defamation, Honda would have had to have made up the whole story. Since Honda took his story from newspaper articles based on what the two offices had claimed, Honda's use of it did not constitute defamation because he himself had not made up the story. The court did not rule on whether the original story itself was accurate or not.

Whoever wrote the English article you cited either did not fully understand the Japanese sources cited or chose to deliberately distort the ruling of the judge. The ruling is about what constitutes defamation, not what constitutes historical accuracy.

Wakabayashi has shown conclusively that while the story did appear in the press, it could not have possibly been as presented. World War II produced a number of stories later proven bogus. This is one of them. Since there is no shortage of well documented brutality, there is no need to cite bogus stories.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

China sulking as usual because it's not getting the attention it thinks it deserves. -_-

They actually do deserve the attention. The brutality and inhumanity we inflicted not only upon Nanjing but other Chinese areas as well cannot be put into words.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Whoever wrote the English article you cited either did not fully understand the Japanese sources cited or chose to deliberately distort the ruling of the judge. The ruling is about what constitutes defamation, not what constitutes historical accuracy.

Hold on a minute here: You post a bad wikipedia link, and its acceptable, and I post a link from wikipedia, which proves your assertions to be false, and NOW you criticize the accuracy of wikipedia? Hmmm

Next, this is an English language site and I for one would greatly appreciate a link for the Japanese language text you have quoted.

Next, taking what you have written:

The ruling is about what constitutes defamation, not what constitutes historical accuracy.

Care to explain defenses to defamation? Hint: roughly 2.

Wakabayashi has shown conclusively that while the story did appear in the press, it could not have possibly been as presented. World War II produced a number of stories later proven bogus. This is one of them.

Care to site a source? You've said this multiple times, and I am still waiting for a working link.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

What's done is done. What's done cannot be undone.

1 ( +3 / -1 )

China is pointing fingers at atrocities committed on Chinese people. The Nanjing Massacre, whoever's numbers you believe, pales in comparison to the death toll Communist China has inflicted and continues to inflict with on its own population. Pot, meet kettle.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Young Japanese people often fail to understand why neighboring countries harbor a grudge over events that happened in 1931-45.

Yes, when Shinzo Abe's grandfather Nobusuke Kishi and great uncle Matsuoka Yosuke ran Manchuria in the 1930s together with Tojo who was the chief of military, their main policy was to make China a nation of drug addicts. As described in Wikipedia:

"To this capacity he overlooked the creation and personally directed the State Opium Monopoly Bureau that mass spread the use of the narcotic firstly in Manchuria and then in China as a way to soften public resistance to the Japanese occupation and expansion while generating huge profits.

Under his authority tens of thousands of hectares were taken over by the Japanese underworld and put under poppy production, while dozens of laboratories were built to convert opium tars into various grades of morphine and heroin, thus the economy of Manchuria became inextricably bound to hard drugs. His administrating success there, made Japan by 1935 the biggest narcotics' producer accounted for approximately three tons or 10% of the world's total supply of morphine and 37% of total heroin production.

According to the testimony of General Ryukichi Tanaka before the International Military Tribunal of the Far East during his post in Manchuria the revenue derived from the opium and other narcotics traffic became the chief source of revenue income for the Manchukuo government. Part of the narcotics was exported to Japan where they were used by a subsidiary tobacco industry of Mitsui of Mitsui zaibatsu in the production of special marketed cigarettes for the Chinese market bearing the then popular in the Far East trademark "Golden Bat". Including small doses of opium on their mouthpiece, apart from generating millions of addicted victims increasing the breakdown of Chinese society it also generated colossal profits for the Japanese economy that (according to testimony at the Tokyo War Crimes trials of 1948), was calculated to be 300 millions prewar dollars annually by the Japanese military."

More can be found here:

Opium: A Japanese Technique of Occupation

http://www.paperlessarchives.com/FreeTitles/OpiumAJapaneseTechniqueofOccupation.pdf

1 ( +3 / -2 )

According to Shinzo Abe, he inherited the political DNA of his grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi. And Nobusuke Kishi's attitude towards the Chinese can be found in Wikipedia:

"A believer in the Yamato race theory, Kishi had nothing but contempt for the Chinese as a people, whom he disparaging referred to as "lawless bandits" who were "incapable of governing themselves". Precisely for these racist reasons, Kishi believed there was no point to establishing the rule of law in Manchukuo as the Chinese were not capable of following laws, and instead brute force was what was needed to maintain social stability.

In Kishi's analogy, just as dogs were not capable of understanding such abstract concepts such as the law, but could be trained to be utterly obedient to their masters, the same went with the Chinese, whom Kishi claimed were more mentally closer to dogs than humans. In this way, Kishi maintained that once the Japanese proved that they were the ones with the power, the dog-like Chinese would come to be naturally obedient to their Japanese masters, and as such the Japanese had to behave with a great deal of sternness to prove that they were the masters.

Along the same lines, Kishi used very dehumanizing language to describe the Chinese such as a people good for being only "robot slaves" or as a people who should be nothing more than "mechanical instruments of the Imperial Army, non-human automatons, absolutely obedient" to their Japanese masters.

The Japanese conscripted hundreds of thousands of Chinese as slave labor to work in Manchukuo's heavy industrial plants. In 1937, Kishi signed a degree calling for the use of slave labour to be conscripted both in Manchukuo and in northern China, stating that in these "times of emergency" (i.e. war with China), industry needed to grow at all costs, and slavery would have to be used as the money to pay the workers was not there."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobusuke_Kishi

2 ( +6 / -4 )

The Japanese soldiers responsible for Nanjing are war criminals, but that does not justify the suffering of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Are you implying that FDR and Truman should also be regarded as war criminals?

The main problem regarding Japanese war criminals is that many top WWII criminals had gone scot-free. Basically, only those who were responsible for the attack of Pearl harbor and invasion of the Philippines were punished by the US and the War Crimes Tribunals. As a result, China, two Koreas, ten SE Asian countries and all British and Anzac POWs have yet to receive any single cent of compensation from Japan for the various war crimes.

At the beginning of the cold-war, many US politicians believed they were fighting with the wrong enemies, that they ought to have sided with the fascists to fight with the communists instead of the other way round. So the US government did a reversal of their policy and released all top WWII criminals who were responsible for the war crimes in China along with many others from the Sugamo prison after the first round of the War Crimes Tribunal. And not only that, the US government even formed an alliance with these fascist war criminals and helped them to regain control of Japan. One of such top war criminals being Kishi Nobusuke. In “America’s Favorite War Criminal: Kishi Nobusuke and the Transformation of U.S.-Japan Relations“, July 1995, Michael Schaller states that

“Evidence in a variety of open and still classified U.S. government documents strongly indicates that early in 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower … authorized the CIA to provide secret campaign funds to Japanese Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke–formerly an accused war criminal–and selected members of the Liberal Democratic Party… Kishi’s prewar friendship with Ambassador Grew assisted his political rehabilitation. A small but influential group of private Americans, who played a key role in drafting the Reverse Course policy, identified Kishi as among those best suited to lead the new Japan….“

http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp11.html

I'm sorry, but the Atomic bombing of Japan has nothing to do with China

Tamarama, you can't say they are totally unrelated. Japan started WWII in Asia by invading China. As an ally of China, the US ended the war with the 2 atomic bombs.

If Japan had not invaded China, Japan would not have to invade SE Asia to get the resources there to support its invasion of China. And if Japan did not intend to invade the Philippines, it would not have attacked Pearl Harbor to prevent US interfering.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Tamarama, you can't say they are totally unrelated. Japan started WWII in Asia by invading China. As an ally of China, the US ended the war with the 2 atomic bombs.

Thanks, but I don't need the history lesson. In as much as they were both terrible events of WW2, yes, they are related.

In as much as this is a solemn occasion where the man who sits in the same seat in office as Truman; who authorised these atrocious attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, has come to acknowledge the terror and wanton destruction his predecessor visited upon the innocent, it has nothing to do with China.

If they had any class, they would offer support for the visit and acknowledge the suffering of the innocent Japanese who died in the atomic bombings. That's what they should have done. Instead they took it as an opportunity to stick the boots in and make it about them. That's terrible.

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Oh I jus love how these comments got so many thumbs-up votes. Yet, some JT posters emphatically insist that they are NOT communist. Who but a communist / rogue regime is capable of doing such?

Communism is not the act of killing one's citizens. You don't appear to understand what communism is. Communism is a political philosophy. Many communist states have performed atrocities such as killing their own citizens, but that is not what makes them communist, it is simply an action that has been performed by communist states. What determines a state as being communist is whether or not they follow the tenets of communism - and none of these tenets has anything to do with killing the citizens of the state. China does not follow the tenets of communism, and therefore is not communist.

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If they had any class, they would offer support for the visit and acknowledge the suffering of the innocent Japanese who died in the atomic bombings. That's what they should have done. Instead they took it as an opportunity to stick the boots in and make it about them. That's terrible.

Abe could have shown some class by admitting neighboring countries also suffered enormously at the hands of the Japanese military/govt. It's terrible that Japanese are pictured as sole victims of the war.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

akkkl

I agree, I think if Abe was the same kind of statesman as Obama he would have taken the chance to do that.

Guess he's not cut from the same cloth.

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Hirohito, Tojo and those WW2 IJA military leaders that orchestrated the invasion of China, Korea and other parts of asia and the sneak attack on US are the real villians culpritable to the mass destructions and enormous human sufferings in asia including their own citizens in WW2. The Japanese goverment should be the one apologizing regarding WW2. US was not the aggressor in WW2. That's the real history and not the version Abe created. Obama showed up in the A-bomb memorial now because he needs Japan to form an alliance to hold down China's rise.

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Japan got nuked by the Americans and became a follower.... Everywhere i go in Japan, i see a shallow culture and a people cowed by the constant threat of another nuclear attack by USA. It is not spoken but whenever i mentioned a possibility of another nuclear attack by USA, everyone keeps quiet.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

One point being made by the China Daily is essentially correct. Japan was the aggressor and its defeat was necessary. In that way, terrible and tragic as the consequences were for the civilians involved, arguably Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary evils to prevent far greater bloodshed.

Of course the problem is that there is always the rampant hypocrisy which you get when the CCP's mouthpiece makes pronouncements about the war - China's own current ruling party has killed far, far more Chinese people than the Japanese ever did, through its psychotic, criminal ideology. Mao was a brutal, amoral mass murderer who starved millions of his own citizens to death, and his successors have robbed their own people to the tune of Billions through corruption.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

whenever i mentioned a possibility of another nuclear attack by USA, everyone keeps quiet.

What response would you expect to such an absurd statement?

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Obama’s visit comes on the sidelines of a meeting of the Group of Seven nations in Japan, which on Thursday said it was “concerned” about rising tensions in the South China Sea.

Beijing said that the bloc of major economies—which excludes China—should stay out of its disputes with several Southeast Asian neighbors.

This article isn't about China trying to make it about them. They are actually pointing to Abe that he should be more like Obama, as well as telling USA to stay out of Southeast Asia disputes.

Bringing up the atrocities of Chinese Government is pointless, since there is no government in existence that hasn't done something bad to its citizens. That's how regimes start and fall, that's what makes history.

Wether or not that particular government starts to invade other countries and how it does it, is important. For example: US government has started so many conflicts, killed so many innocent people, sent thousands of its own citizens to die in the Middle East, it also keeps killing innocent people abroad with drones, and throwing mostly black people into its prisons at home, etc. etc. George Bush should have been ostracized as a war criminal by now.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@Guru29

The main problem regarding Japanese war criminals is that many top WWII criminals had gone scot-free. Basically, only those who were responsible for the attack of Pearl harbor and invasion of the Philippines were punished by the US and the War Crimes Tribunals.

Google search "International Military Tribunal for the Far East" (even Wiki is OK) then try again. If you are refering to the regard "Justice Delfin Jaranilla of the Philippines disagreed with the penalties imposed by the tribunal as being "too lenient, not exemplary and deterrent, and not commensurate with the gravity of the offence or offences committed".", can you also highlight "Pal's dissenting opinion" as well? At any rate, Japan accepted the unconditional surrender so you probably should be accusing associated countries in Tokyo Trial, not only the U.S., if you want to claim the illegitimacy of trial outcomes. Furthermore, you probably should consider the legitimacy of Tokyo Trial itself.

As a result, China, two Koreas, ten SE Asian countries and all British and Anzac POWs have yet to receive any single cent of compensation from Japan for the various war crimes.

Not sure what you mean by "various war crimes", but you should also google search "San Francisco Peace Treaty" along with individual peace treaties with various countries who didn't sign SF peace treaty to understand how WW2 war crimes were settled in various forms with each countries. Remember, if both countries sign the peace treaty, it means it is settled except for some unsettled disputes noted in its treaty itself.

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When is China going to take some time for the remembrance of Tiananmen Square?

3 ( +3 / -0 )

China said on Friday that Japan’s World War II violence is more worthy of remembrance than the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, ahead of a historic visit by U.S. President Barack Obama.

So's Tiananmen Square, but I don't see China chomping at the bit to commemorate that massacre. Everyone chooses to commemorate events that had something to do with them. In China's case, they choose to ignore something that had to do SOLELY with them.

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