China publicizes Japanese war criminal's confessions

China's State Archives Administration on Sunday publicized the confession of Japanese war criminal Nosuke Sasaki, the latest in a series of similar publications.

A 141-page confession signed by Lieutenant General Sasaki, commander of the 39rd Division of the Third Front Army of the Kwantung Army, on May 9, 1956, details the murder of thousands of Chinese and civilians and captives from 1932 to 1945.

A section on events in October 1932 includes the passage, "During my garrison duty in Jiamusi... about 30 Chinese people were arrested as spy suspects... Among them, 15 soldiers and six civilians were killed after interrogation with torture."

Other sections see Sasaki confess to having his soldiers use poison gas and forcing Indonesian women into sex slavery for Japanese troops.

The release includes scans of the original manuscript in Japanese, with Chinese and English translations.

On Thursday, the State Archives Administration began releasing full texts of confessions by 45 Japanese war criminals. One will be released online per day.

The move follows Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and right-wing politicians' stubborn denial of war crimes in China.

Some 1,109 Japanese war criminals were held in custody in China between 1950 and 1956, according to the administration. Of them, 1,017 with minor offenses were exempted from prosecution and released in 1956 and 45 received military trials under the Supreme People's Court that year.

The administration said it is sorting archives of confessions made by the 1,017 with minor offenses to make them public as well.