Japan cannot deny its history of aggression (2)

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In recent years, growing numbers of historians have focused on China’s contribution to the anti-Japanese war. Atsushi Koketsu, Vice President of Japan's national Yamaguchi University, has calculated that the Japanese forces in China far exceeded the numbers committed to the war against the United States in the Pacific theater. In other words, the major part of Japan's military force was directed towards the Anti-Japanese War in China. Rana Mitter, Professor of Modern Chinese History and Politics at the University of Oxford, said in the book China's War with Japan, 1937-1945: “China's strong resistance forced the Japanese to send millions of troops to the Chinese battlefield. This figure is far greater than the total strength of Japanese military forces deployed against British and American troops. China's dogged Anti-Japanese War destroyed the main Japanese army force, playing an important role in the Second World War.”

As Japan's deviation to the right accelerates, some politicians and representatives of the right-wing have publicly denied the country's history of aggression, relentlessly celebrating militarism and praising the past deeds of war criminals. Such behavior offends historical justice and conscience, and will inevitably provoke intense alarm in the international community and calls for vigilance.

Only by correctly understanding and dealing with its history of aggression, and by shifting to the path of peaceful development, can Japan achieve lasting prosperity and development with its Asian neighbors and welcome a bright future of harmony and common development. The history of Japan's war of invasion is not something that can be denied, and its challenge to the post-war international order is not something that can be allowed.

Read the Chinese version: 日本，侵略历史翻不了案; source: People's Daily; author: Zhong Sheng

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