In Beijing on Sunday a special ceremony granted nongovernmental
financial aid to 586 Chinese survivors of forced labor during World
War II. During the 1930s and '40s the Japanese army treated most
of? these survivors as slave laborers.
Ten survivor representatives, mainly from China's northern
provinces of Hebei and Shanxi, central Henan and eastern Shandong,
attended. China Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) and Chinese Federation
of Demanding Compensation From Japan (CFDC) conducted the
ceremony.
Each of the survivors was given 1,000 Yuan (US$131.6). One
"extremely poor" survivor was given 3,000 Yuan. This is the first
time they have obtained any kind of domestic aid.
Tong Zeng, head of the CFDC, said that the Hong Kong
Philanthropist, Zhong Huiming, offered the financial aid. It will
be primarily used to help WWII victims with "special difficulties"
and women who were forced to be sex slaves during the war.
Tong, an activist fighting for war compensation in Beijing, said
that the 586 former forced laborers were the only known
survivors.
Between 1943 and 1945 about 40,000 Chinese were forced into
slave labor at 135 Japanese labor camps. The labor sites,
consisting of 35 various enterprises, all operated in Japan.
According to Tong more than 6,800 Chinese teenage laborers died of
exhaustion. The CFDC research compiled all the figures. China won a
final victory over the war against Japanese invasion in 1945.
"The majority of the survivors from the forced labor camps are
suffering diseases left from the war. Today most of them are over
eighty years old. We hope the aid can comfort them and help them to
enjoy a restful life in their remaining years," said Tong, while
calling for more social assistance for World War II victims.
"The Japanese foremen abused us. I lived like a beast. I can not
use words to describe it," said Li Liangjie, 78, who was brought to
Japan at age 14. Li made an angry, spontaneous speech at the
aid-granting ceremony, accusing the Japanese of war atrocities.
Li said the aid greatly inspired him to continue seeking
compensation from the Japanese government and related Japanese
companies by filing lawsuits both in domestic and Japanese
courts.
On April 27 the Japanese Supreme Court rejected the demands of
five former Chinese laborers. They had all worked as slave laborers
in Japan during the WWII under Tokyo-based construction contractor
Nishimatsu Construction Co.? According to the court Nishimatsu
was not liable to either apologize or issue compensation.
The court said that Chinese individuals had no right to demand
war reparations from Japan.
"The case shows that lawsuits demanding compensation are facing
even bleaker prospects," Tong said.
The CRCF and the CFDC initiated the aid campaign for WWII
victims on June 10. They wanted to financially help victims of
Japan's notorious bacterial war, sufferers of chemical weapons
abandoned in China, and women who were forced to be sex slaves for
the Japanese army.
Statistics show an estimated 200,000 "comfort women" were forced
to serve as sex slaves in China for the Japanese forces during the
war.
(Xinhua News Agency July 23, 2007)