LOS ANGELES - A veteran of the famous Flying Tigers jet 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 the Dec 27 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 Nanking, for invading China, for murdering millions of Chinese people," said Yee, who added that he intends to send this letter through Xinhua.

"I was 17-year old and living in Kunming when the Japanese slaughtered hundreds of thousands of innocent people in Nanking, 1,340 miles (2,156 km)away," Yee said at the beginning of the letter.

"It was a horrible, sickening event, and shocked everybody in China. It started a long period of atrocities committed by the Japanese military against innocent Chinese people," he said.

"Japan tried to take over Asia and Germany tried to take over Europe. Same thing, and just like Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews in Europe, the Japanese committed a genocide against the Chinese. But Western educators and media have yet to recognize the extent of the atrocities committed by Japan," he said.