Xi condemns denials of war crimes

Chinese President Xi Jinping condemned any denials of Japan's wartime aggression in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province during the nation's first state commemoration for the Nanjing Massacre victims Saturday, seen by analysts as an implicit warning against any possible reemergence of militarism in Japan.

The Nanjing Massacre, committed by Japanese aggressors in 1937, was one of three major massacres that took place during World War II. It was an atrocious crime against humanity and a dark page in human history, Xi said while addressing the audience at a state ceremony for China's first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

"Forgetting history is a betrayal, while denying one's crimes could lead to repeated offenses," Xi noted at Saturday's ceremony in Nanjing.

Xi warned that any attempts to ignore wartime history or to glorify military aggression are harmful to world peace and justice and should be firmly opposed. Neither side should forget the grave crimes the invaders committed, he stated.

Despite the fact that Xi did not directly mention Japanese right-wing nationalists, Sun Zhaiwei, a research fellow with the Jiangsu Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the president's speech serves as a serious warning against some Japanese politicians' denials of wartime history, especially in light of the Japanese Cabinet's decision to allow Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense, enabling the country to fight on behalf of its allies overseas.

"Although the Japanese militarists have been defeated, Xi's speech will serve as a warning," Sun told the Global Times.

Xi highlighted the contributions of heroes who sacrificed themselves during the war, a move described by Sun as rarely seen in previous memorial events.

But Xi also stressed that the Chinese people should not hold a grudge against Japan since "the responsibility for the war lay with a few militarists, not with the people."

Chinese and Japanese people should live in friendship from generation to generation and make joint efforts to contribute to the peace of humanity, Xi said.

Some Japanese media who have advocated the revival of Japanese militarism and the denial of the brutal history in Nanjing have always misread China's commemoration of the Nanjing Massacre as an attempt to "use history to accuse Japan," said Sun.

"Xi has made a clear distinction between the Japanese people and the militarists. China is resolute in its stance on peaceful development, so its attempt to remember history is not a display of anti-Japanese sentiment," Wang Taiping, a former senior diplomat stationed in Japan, told the Global Times.

"China has become a great country with the strong ability to protect its people and uphold peace. Gone are the days when China suffered from bullying and torture," Xi said in his speech, stressing that the country is working toward the Chinese Dream.

Japanese troops captured Nanjing on December 13, 1937 and began a slaughter that lasted more than 40 days. The invaders murdered more than 300,000 civilians and Chinese soldiers who had laid down their arms and raped about 20,000 women, Xinhua reported.

Representatives from all walks of life paid silent tribute to the massacre victims at Saturday's ceremony as sirens howled all over the city.

The ceremony, presided over by Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, was held at the memorial hall for the massacre victims in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province.

On July 7, Xi spoke at a ceremony that marked the 77th anniversary of the full-scale invasion of China launched by Japanese troops in World War II. On September 3, he attended a ceremony in Beijing for the 69th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

Chen Heying contributed to this story