<Relatives holding portraits of Chinese victims who were made by the Japanese to work as forced labourers during World War II. The spectre of Japanese militarism still haunts many Chinese. Photo: Reuters>
BEIJING— China’s top legislative body has designated two new national days aimed at highlighting Japanese aggression during World War II.
A senior Japanese official expressed puzzlement, saying that the move comes more than six decades after the war.
The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress approved proposals designating Sept 3 as “War Against Japanese Aggression Victory Day” and Dec 13 as a day of remembrance for victims of the Nanjing Massacre, reported the state media.
Japanese troops captured Nanjing on Dec 13, 1937, and spent the next six weeks torturing and killing civilians in the city. Japan officially surrendered to the Allied Powers on Sept 2, 1945, marking the end of the war.
Tensions between Japan and China have been on the rise, stoked by a territorial dispute in the East China Sea and a visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a war shrine in Tokyo in December.
The Chinese calendar is dotted with days of commemoration for events and causes ranging from the founding of the military to men’s health, but it is rare for such days to be voted on at such a high level.
A commentary in the overseas edition of the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily made it clear that the decision was intended in part to send a message to Japan.
“Victory Day is a time for celebration, but also for alertness,” the commentary said. “The spectre of Japanese militarism still haunts us.”
China has other days dedicated to the remembrance of its conflict with Japan. They include Sept 18, which marks the day Japanese troops invaded the city of Shenyang, beginning a wider takeover of north-east China.
National days are not public holidays. Typically, national days are a time for commemoration marked by essays and speeches.
Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said yesterday: “I can’t deny there is a question why they have to set up these commemoration days more than 60 years after the war. But this is a domestic matter for China, so the government declines to comment on it.”
“Japan’s position on World War II has not changed a bit, and Japan has followed the path of peaceful nationhood since the end of the war, which has been highly commended by the international community.”
In a separate development, ordinary Chinese can now play an online game called Kill the Devils on the website of the People’s Daily newspaper, the official mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party.
The word “devil” is commonly used in China as a pejorative reference to Japanese people.
It is not the first time China has encouraged its citizens to take to the Internet in the name of nationalism.
The People’s Daily hosted an online game in January that got players to zap corrupt Chinese officials who popped up in the windows of a jailhouse, something akin to the arcade game Whac-A-Mole.
The latest game is notably less playful as it is a clear reference to Mr Abe’s visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni shrine.
Players get to shoot Japanese war criminals with a handgun. After a few shots, the target begins moving, making scoring more difficult.
The game lets players chose one of 14 targets, cartoon heads based on Japan’s “Class A” war criminals from World War II, many of whom were convicted in postwar tribunals.
Yasukuni honours, among many other Japanese war dead, the same 14 “Class A” war criminals who appear in the People’s Daily game.
Source: AGENCIES