A signed commentary to be published by the People's Daily on January 24 denounces a handful of Japanese rightists for their Sunday gathering in Osaka aimed at denying the notorious 1937 Nanjing Massacre staged by Japanese aggressor troops and exposed their attempt to "revive Japanese militarism."

The following are extracts from the commentary, entitled "Who are telling lies?"

Shortly after the new year was ushered in, Japanese rightists are again engaged in activities to call back the spirit of the Japanese militarists.

This time, members of a right-wing Japanese opinions association gathered Sunday at the International Peace Center in Osaka, staging a farce meant to deny the Nanjing Massacre.

Under the slogan of "Thoroughly Verifying the Nanjing Massacre," they blatantly clamored that the Nanjing Massacre is "a biggest lie of the 20th century," deeply hurting the feelings of the Chinese people and rousing their great indignation.

Japanese rightists' attempt to decorate the world-acknowledged Nanjing Massacre as a "lie" is indeed a mock of the history and the height of absurdity.

The world was shocked to learn that Japanese aggressors had cruelly slaughtered more than 300,000 Chinese citizens and unarmed soldiers in a little over one month after they invaded Nanjing in December 1937.

At the end of World War II, the Far Eastern International Military Court formed by China, the Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France and six other states brought Japanese war criminals to justice and made a special investigation into thecase in accordance with the principles of justice and peace and international law.

With plenty of testimonies and material evidence, the court ruled that "Japanese troops committed continuous massacres for at least six weeks after they occupied Nanjing." Matsui Ishine, the principal criminal perpetrator, was sentenced to death by hanging.

Lies written in ink cannot cover up facts written in blood. The heaps of bones in the Memorial Hall to Victims of the Nanjing Massacre and the testimonies from survivors and Japanese veteran solders who took part in the massacre have all served to verify that the 1937 Nanjing Massacre is one of the most cruel and appalling crimes against humanity in the 20th century. Even the Japanese government has clearly admitted that the Nanjing Massacre is "an irrefutable fact."

By calling for the "verification," a handful of Japanese rightists have revealed their vicious intentions of tampering with historic facts, whitewashing the atrocities of aggression and undermining the friendly relations between China and Japan. It is precisely this handful of rightists who are telling "Lies of the Century."

It is by no means accidental for a pack of Japanese rightists to have staged such farces. Such actions on the part of the Japanese rightists have come as an inevitable result that up till now, Japan has not reckoned with its wartime aggression against other nations and that the Japanese society is turning more rightist.

Taking advantage of the circumstance, the right-wingers agitated narrow nationalism, saying that to admit aggression amounts to "bringing shame" to the Japanese and that to review history means "self-maltreatment," in an attempt to blur the distinction between the "victimized" and the "victimizer" and confuse the minds of members of the Japanese public.

Azuma Shiro, a veteran Japanese soldier who participated in the Nanjing Massacre and made public his wartime diary out of repentance to prove the massacre, was even attacked and persecuted by the rightists. On Friday, the Japanese Supreme Court once again ruled that Azuma Shiro lost his case for alleged "libeling."

In recent years, the Japanese rightists, trying hard to cover up the country's history of aggression and free the country from various post-war restrictions, are attempting to revive the dream of "the Great Japanese Empire."

It is inevitable that these developments have alerted the world, especially countries in Asia that suffered the brutal aggression by the Japanese militarists.

What is worth mentioning is the fact that the International Peace Center in Osaka is funded, built and administrated by the Osaka Prefecture and the Osaka municipality, which has it as its aim to contribute to world peace by conveying to future generations the misery of war and the essence of peace. Such a gathering held in the center can be nothing but blasphemy and mock to peace and an insult to all peace-loving people, including Japanese people.

Even in Japan, the farce is unpopular. Ikuma Dan, President of the Japan-China Cultural Exchange Association, said, "We are strongly indignant and worried that such an evil gathering distorting reality and damaging Japan-China friendly relations should take place in such a public site built for teaching future generations the misery of war and the value of peace."

How to treat issues of history is the political basis for the development of Sino-Japanese relations. The Japanese government admitted its aggression against China and expressed deep introspection for the grave suffering of the Chinese people in the Sino-Japanese Joint Statement and a series of other documents, which led to the normalization of relations and the maintenance ofgood relations.

In 1998, Chinese President Jiang Zeming paid a state visit to Japan, when the two countries issued a Joint Declaration, announcing the establishment of a friendly and cooperative partnership devoted to peace and development. Only by using the past as a mirror can the Sino-Japanese relations go forward on a sound track and progress in the right direction.

Japan's basic interests and future lie in following the path of peaceful development. One must keep extreme alert against the Japanese rightists' activities of whitewashing and denying their country's wartime past.