A veteran of the famous Flying Tigers fighters squadron during World War II has sent an open letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, urging him to apologize to the Chinese people for the atrocities committed by Japanese imperial army during the war. John Yee, who was born in China and is now living in the United States, said in the letter that Tuesday's visit to Pearl Harbor by Abe is "more USA-Japan theater".

"The first people the Japanese should apologize to are the Chinese - for the Rape of Nanjing, for invading China, for murdering millions of Chinese people," Yee said.

"I was 17-year old and living in Kunming when the Japanese slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Nanjing, 1,340 miles (2,160 kilometers) away," Yee said at the beginning of the letter.