China reacts to Japan's ignoring their past aggression, states it 'erodes Japan's international credit'

© Xinhua

People visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders in Nanjing, east China’s Jiangsu Province

Days after China and Japan took a step closer to setting up a consultative mechanism to govern contacts in the East China Sea, Beijing on Thursday criticised Japan's "denials" of its wartime atrocities.

"It is irrefutable that the Nanjing Massacre was a cruel crime that the Japanese militarists committed during Japan's war on China. Any attempts to overturn its past aggression only erode Japan's international credit," China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing on Thursday in Beijing.

Hong's comments came one day after the news agency quoted Japanese government sources as saying Japan told China in late December that it was "not appropriate for Chinese President Xi Jinping to state that the number of victims of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre totaled 300,000″.

Chinese President Xi on 13 December attended the first national memorial day for the Nanjing Massacre.

"Anyone who tries to deny the massacre will not be allowed by history, the souls of the 300,000 deceased victims, 1.3 billion Chinese people and all people loving peace and justice in the world," Xi said in a reference to conservative Japanese politicians and nationalists who deny the massacre ever took place.

"We urge Japan to correct its attitude and honor its commitment to face up to and reflect on its aggressive past," the Chinese spokesperson Hong said on Thursday in Beijing.

Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13 of 1937 and slaughtered tens of thousands of Chinese civilians and soldiers for 40-odd days. Chinese officials maintain more than 300,000 Chinese soldiers, who had laid down their arms, and civilians were murdered and about 20,000 women were raped.

An Allied tribunal put the death toll at 142,000.

China's State Council in September released a list of 80 state facilities and sites commemorating the war with Japan.

The conflict, commonly known in China as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, led to the death of some 20 million Chinese, according to Beijing's estimates. It ended with Tokyo's World War II defeat in 1945.

China on Wednesday also voiced concern over Japan's annual military budget.

Japan's Cabinet on Wednesday approved a 4.98 trillion yen (about $42.46 billion) defense budget for the 2015 fiscal year, starting in April, the country's largest ever and a 2 per cent increase year on year.

Since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012, Japan's defense budget has seen an uptrend and could top 5 trillion yen in 2016, said media reports.

Japan's military and security policies have long drawn the attention of the international community, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei was quoted by Chinese agency at a routine press briefing on Wednesday.

"We hope Japan will reflect on its history, follow the path of peaceful development and play a constructive role in promoting regional peace and stability," he said.

The Japanese Cabinet will now submit the budget to the parliament.

Since Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito have majorities in both houses of parliament, the passage of the budget is almost certain, local media said.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Chinese and Japanese defense officials discussed how to manage tensions stemming from a territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

Both sides are trying to finalize details of a hotline that will allow leaders from both sides to communicate in the event of an emergency, as well as other strategies for avoiding accidents at sea or in the air.

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