Gruesome acts attributed to Japan mirror behaviors recorded in China’s ancient chronicle Zizhi Tongjian. Japan must counter China’s state-driven historical warfare with verified facts and systematic dissemination.

2016-05-03

The following continues from the previous chapter.

The book contains numerous passages depicting Japanese cruelty, yet none of them reflect actual Japanese behavior. Rather, they are deeply consistent with actions attributed to Chinese people as found in the ancient Chinese chronicle Zizhi Tongjian.

For example, the book claims that the Japanese military “stripped a woman six months pregnant, bound her naked to a table in a public square, assaulted her while filming, then cut open her abdomen and extracted the fetus with a bayonet.”

After such grotesque descriptions, the book goes on to state that even if Japanese soldiers were not born evil, “the cruelty and mercilessness of the Japanese army are difficult to comprehend,” thereby degrading the Japanese as if they were a uniquely barbaric people distinct from Chinese or Americans.

Last year, China succeeded in registering the “Nanjing Incident” in UNESCO’s Memory of the World program, and Japan failed to prevent it.

Can Japan stop the registration of so-called comfort women this time?

Efforts are underway to reform the selection process of the Memory of the World program to make it more fair and transparent, and this should be credited to the Japanese government’s initiatives. However, institutional reform alone is insufficient.

Even if China’s registration is blocked, has Japan thoroughly examined and prepared to disseminate information that overturns fabricated history?

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has already made clear statements on the comfort women issue: there is no factual basis for claims of sexual slavery or “200,000 victims”; there is no evidence of forced abduction; and the military’s involvement was limited to the establishment, health management, sanitation, and transportation of comfort stations.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan has not even posted these statements on its official website.

Disseminating objective facts does not contradict the Japan–South Korea comfort women agreement—does the ministry simply lack the will to communicate them?

Beyond dissemination, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also been passive in uncovering and researching evidence that refutes fabrications.

At a time when China is advancing a nationwide scheme against Japan, Japan too must respond as a nation. The urgent need for a private-sector information center is deeply felt.