The Tokyo District Court acknowledged in a ruling on Tuesday that
Unit 731 and other units of the Japanese army had engaged in germ
warfare in China during the war. It was the first recognition of
the Japanese army's culpability in an official judgment.
This time they turned out to be honest about some of the historical
facts, although not about the whole disgraceful affair.
However, they refused to commit their country to indemnifying the
victims of the germ warfare Japan launched in China during World
War II.
The Japanese Government has done nothing to redress the wrongs, and
the denial of the victims' right to damages is unfair.
The unit released fleas infected with bubonic plague and
distributed food laced with cholera bacteria in Zhejiang and Hunan
provinces between 1940 and 1942, killing many civilians.
Such actions violated international laws on the safety of occupied
peoples and civil codes.
Hiding facts about the inhumane acts remains the Japanese
Government's modus operandi.
During litigation, the government dodged discussing whether the
Japanese army waged germ warfare in China and denied it had any
responsibility to indemnify the victims.
The government also denied its responsibility to compensate for
acts conducted before the State Redress Law, which was enacted
after the war, and claimed no legal responsibility to reveal the
facts about germ warfare to the Chinese plaintiffs.
The atrocities the Japanese army committed In China during the war
left not just horrible scars on the mind of the nation. They are
still visible and hideous in some parts of the country.
Chinese are still threatened even today by the after-effects of the
germ warfare conducted by Japanese soldiers in the war. Positive
antibodies of bubonic plague in rats, dogs, cats and other animals
are still found in Zhejiang Province.
Japan has done nothing compared with Germany's actions to accept
its historical responsibility.
After World War II, Germany paid a war indemnity of US$12 billion
to the Soviet Union, and a compensation of US$60 billion to the
Jews. Germany signed agreements with the United States, Israel,
Russia and Poland, deciding to provide an indemnity of DM10 billion
(US$4.8 billion) to the survivors of laborers for Nazis and their
descendants, thereby eventually closing the last outstanding
chapter of Nazi history as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
said.
A
correct approach to history is the basis Japan needs to start from
to develop its relations with China and other Asian countries.
(China
Daily August 30, 2002)