China claims as many as
300,000 died in the assault
Posted on 06/21/2007 4:50:38 AM PDT by yankeedame
Last Updated: Tuesday, 19 June 2007, 16:24 GMT 17:24 UK
By Chris Hogg
BBC News, Tokyo
China claims as many as
300,000 died in the assault
A group of MPs from Japan's governing party is claiming the Chinese have exaggerated the number of people killed by Japanese troops in Nanjing in 1937. China claims that during the assault on the city around 300,000 people were killed by the Japanese.
In Tokyo the MPs, from the right wing of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, claimed a month-long study they organised showed 20,000 died.
At the end of the year China will mark the 70th anniversary of the attack.
They call it the 'rape of Nanking', the name of the city in English at the time of the incident.
Thousands killed
Several films will tell the story of what happened there. Nanjing was the capital city of China.
After it fell to the Japanese Imperial Army on 13 December 1937, the occupiers terrorised the city's population. Many thousands were killed.
But some in Japan want to use the anniversary to promote their view that the death toll, cited by the Chinese, is a fiction.
China says 300,000 lost their lives in Nanjing. Some experts argue a more accurate estimate is between 150,000 and 200,000.
Shinzo Abe may face problems from the claim
These lawmakers say a month-long study of historical documents suggests there is no evidence that soldiers killed any more than 20,000. What is more, they say, the Japanese did not violate international law.
Clearly these are hugely provocative statements, but do they matter? The Japanese and Chinese governments are carrying out their own joint study.
The exercise is designed to try to reduce the chances that disputes over historical fact will derail efforts to improve relations between them.
Trouble ahead?
But the announcement by these lawmakers will make life difficult for Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a well-known conservative.
He will no doubt now be asked repeatedly whether he shares the views of this large contingent of his own party.
But watch for the response of the Chinese.
A measured response will signal that they are not prepared to allow history to dominate discussions between Beijing and Tokyo in the run up to this important anniversary. An angry one could signal trouble ahead.
Although I would like to see a strong Japan on our side, facing North Korea and China, those ridiculous statements and outragous denials don’t do the Japanese any favour.
Their version of Holocaust denial.
Even if the total was 20,000 is that suppossed to make anybody feel better?The murder of civilians was the trademark of the Imperial Japanese Army,and there is no way to put a good spin on it.
More to the point.
Nanking was just one city. The Japs did very much the same throughout the area of China they invaded.
Nanking is remembered as a separate incident mainly because there were a couple hundred foreigners who were hands-off and who were thus able to report to the outside world on what the Japs did there.
I don’t see how anybody can accurately determine at this point in time whether the number was 150K or 300K.
The more relevant issue is that such atrocities were intentional Japanese policy. Soldiers were punished for NOT participating in the rape, torture and killing.
Based on true incidents.
That’s the same Jap mindset that changed the name of Iwo Jima to Iwo To. They’re hoping everybody forgets.
You are far to kind.
How can you be so politically incorrect, “Japs”.
GOOD JOB SIR.
Don’t forget that at this very moment the ChiComs are perpetuating genocide in Tibet and are involved in their own version of Holocaust denial.
Don’t forget that at this very moment the ChiComs are perpetuating genocide in Tibet and are involved in their own version of Holocaust denial.The official Chinese history of the boxer rebellion is pretty funny too. Slaughtering 10s of thousands of Chinese Christians is now "resisting colonial aggression".
Historical reference.
Nobody in America was concerned about Jap sensibilities at the time. Quite the contrary.
Watched it last night.
Excellent movie, but like most war movies hard to figure out what’s going on in the combat scenes.
OTOH, that’s pretty much what actual combat is like.
I agree that the Japanese should accept that the massacre at Nanking was a planned effort.
However, given China’s own expertise at eliminating entire nations and cultures (and at a far larger scale than Nanking), any response from them to this Japanese statement should be treated with the derision and contempt it deserves.
Agreed.
How long until they start claiming the Battan death march never happened. If you’re going to whitewash history you might as well use a very broad brush.
The Japanese were smart enough not to write down how many people they slaughtered unlike the Germans.
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