A newly declassified Chinese diplomatic file explains that China gave up
suing 1,063 Japanese war criminals in 1956 was for the purpose of promoting
normalization of China-Japan ties.
"In light of the international situation, the Chinese government has opted to
take lenient policies towards Japanese war criminals to help promote
normalization of China-Japan ties," according to a declassified memorandum China
sent to the former Soviet Union on April, 25, 1956.
Altogether 1,063 Japanese war criminals were in jail in China that year.
China's legal organs had finished their investigations into their crimes by that
time, the memorandum says.
"However, considering the great changes that have taken place in the
positions of the two countries and 10 years has passed since the ending of World
War II, the Chinese government has now decided to handle the Japanese war
criminals more leniently," it says.
According to the memorandum, the Chinese National People's Congress had
passed a decision on settling the Japanese war criminals on April 25, 1956, in
which the Chinese government sentenced those guilty of serious crimes to less
than 20 years' imprisonment. China decided to abandon the prosecution of some
1,000 criminals who showed minor guilt or penitence, and set them free.
These released criminals were later repatriated by the Chinese Red Cross
Society, the memorandum says.
The war of aggression against China by the Japanese militarists inflicted
immense disaster on the Chinese people.
According to incomplete statistics, the war resulted in 35 million Chinese
casualties and more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and troops were massacred in
Nanjing, a city in eastern China, in 1937.
However, the Chinese government and people took a lenient attitude towards
the Japanese criminals and organized visits for them.
According to another declassified record, besides living in prisons, the
detainees could also visit other places outside to see the change and carry out
self-examination of their actions during the war time.
"The 1,063 Japanese war criminals detained in Fushun and Taiyuan have visited
factories, shops, schools, kindergartens, rest homes and agricultural
cooperatives in Fushun, Taiyuan and Beijing since February," said a briefing
recording the detainees' situation from April to July in 1956.
The Japanese were deeply moved by those visits, in which they were well
treated and pardoned by the Chinese people, some of whom were even victims
during the war.
"This visit made the crimes conducted by Japanese imperialism and myself
clear to me...I sincerely hope I can apologize to the Chinese people and then
request execution by firing squad," the briefing quoted Saza Shinnosuke, a
lieutenant general during the war, as saying.
"I hope the Japanese government will convey my feelings to the next
generation and tell them not to follow my old path," he was quoted as saying.
The Chinese people also showed their generosity. When asked by a detainee how
he felt about the war criminals, a Chinese man said that he opposed the
imperialism, which triggered the war, instead of any specific person.
"If you show regret for the past, I think the Chinese government will treat
you with leniency," the Chinese man was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the Red Cross Society of China offered help for the war criminals'
relatives to visit their families in China. It evenprovided subsidies for some
poor ones.
In June 1956, the Chinese government announced the dismissal ofthe case and
immediate release of the first batch of 355 Japanese war criminals. The freed
Japanese wrote a letter to the Chinese government and to the prison supervision
agencies after they returned to Japan.
In the letter, the Japanese wrote of their appreciation for the Chinese grace
and denounced the war, describing themselves as "bloody devils" during the war.
"The war was absolutely not for the country, neither a so-called holy war for
peace in Asia... We will never step on the road of invasion, nor be cheated by
imperialism. We will oppose aggression, oppose imperialism and safeguard peace,"
said the letter.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Wednesday declassified its diplomatic files
from between 1956 and 1960 containing a total of 25,651 items.
The files contained records of China's major diplomatic events during the
five-year period, including its forging of diplomatic links with 14 Asian,
African and Latin American countries, the former Soviet Union's withdrawal of
its experts working in China and the Sino-U.S. ambassadorial
talks.
