Workers strike after Japanese boss denies WWII history

Some 1,000 angry workers from a Sino-Japanese joint-venture company in Dongguan, Guangdong province launched a protest against their Japanese boss on Tuesday after he openly denied Japan's wartime history.

Masataka Kataoka, the president of Alps Electric, the Japanese investor in the joint-venture Dongguan Chang'an Rihua Electronic Plant, allegedly told staff members at a managerial meeting on Tuesday that Japan did not invade China during WWII and the act was merely to "help lift China out of colonial rule from countries like the US."

His speech prompted nearly 1,000 Chinese workers to gather in protest for at least three hours and demand an apology.

Kataoka apologized to workers at around 3 pm in front of the company's building.

His move has led to cancelation of the protest but some workers still refused to return to work.

"We don't think the apology is sincere," one of the employees, surnamed Chen, told the Global Times.

Japan's refusal to face its wartime history has repeatedly caused protests from China and South Korea. The incident took place on the same day as Japan loosened the bonds on its powerful military, a highly controversial shift in the nation's pacifist stance.