Nanjing suspends official contact with Nagoya

Southern Chinese city Nanjing said it will suspend official exchanges with Japanese city Nagoya following its mayor's denial of the Nanjing Massacre, a spokesman of the foreign affairs office of the Nanjing municipal government said Tuesday night.

Nagoya Mayor Kawamura Takashi said the Nanjing Massacre "probably never happened" on Monday while meeting with a delegation from Nanjing.

The spokesman said Takashi Kawamura's remarks distorted historical facts and "seriously hurt the feelings of the Nanjing people."

The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops occupied the then capital of China. More than 300,000 Chinese were believed murdered and thousands of women raped.

However, Kawamura, head of the Nagoya municipal government, told Liu Zhiwei on Monday, a member of the Communist Party of China Nanjing City Standing Committee, that he thought the massacre of civilians by Japanese troops in 1937 never took place.

"There were regular combative activities, but I believe the Nanjing (Massacre) never happened," he said.

Foreign Ministry of China slamed the denail yesterday.

China does not accept Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura's denial of the crime of the Nanjing Massacre, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular news briefing.

Later today, Kawamura Takeshi claimed in an interview that his will to continue the friendly ties with Nanjing remained, but he had no intention to withdraw his irritating comment on the Nanjing Massacre.