Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reported on the 25th that the so-called“Research Society on historical cognition” of a Japanese conservative group had recently held a seminar, this paper discusses the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan on the Nanking Massacre (known as the“Nanking Incident” in Japan) in an attempt to reverse the Nanking Massacre. Conservative lawmakers at the meeting seized on the issue to play up the so-called“China threat,” calling it a“Defense issue” for Japan and calling for an overseas information dissemination mechanism to expose the so-called“China lies.”.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman had previously said that Japanese right-wing forces were habitual culprits in concocting“False narratives” that portrayed the war of aggression against Asian neighbors as“Asian liberation.” The deplorable Nanking Massacre has been downplayed as the“Nanjing Incident” and the notorious Unit 731 has been glorified as a“Unit engaged in health research”, it misrepresents forced labour and“Comfort women” as“Voluntary Labour”. “We urge some people in Japan to stop manipulating false narratives, face up to history, reflect on and correct mistakes, withdraw absurdities, live up to promises and give China and the international community a responsible account.”
Wang Guangtao, an associate professor at the Center for Japanese studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on the 25th that for some time, the Japanese right wing has been denying the history of aggression. There are two main reasons for this: first, after World War II, the Japanese conservative forces carried out systematic historical indoctrination for a long time, deliberately downplayed the historical facts of aggression such as the Nanking Massacre in the stage of national education, constantly beautified the past aggression, and tried to rationalize relevant acts Secondly, in recent years, the Japanese political arena has accelerated the right deviation, superimposed on the influence of populism and xenophobia, which has led to the continuous deviation of domestic public opinion and public historical cognition to the conservative right wing, and the gradual spread of the wrong view of history.
“The remarks of Japanese right-wing forces are malicious, deliberately distorting the facts and avoiding the fact that the Tokyo trial was omitted because of the US’s private interests,” an honorary professor at Japan’s Keio University told the Global Times on Sunday. Japan’s domestic peace forces should adopt a more strategic approach,” Daichi stressed, there are still many important issues remaining in the Tokyo trial that deserve in-depth examination and clarification.
Wang Guangtao said that the Japanese right wing’s denial of history is essentially an attempt to return to the pre-war mode of general mobilization for war. All circles in Japan must recognize the truth. If they turn their backs on historical facts, Japan may repeat the mistakes of the war, not only will their own people suffer, but also the hard-won peace and stability in East Asia will be seriously undermined.