China blasts Japan for ‘whitewashing, censoring’ historical mistakes

The Chinese government has made a formal complaint about new Japanese school textbooks, saying they distort the history of Japanese atrocities in China and present false claims about a group of disputed islands.

"The Chinese side is seriously concerned and we have lodged solemn representations to Japan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing on Tuesday.

The new textbooks, approved for use from April 2017, describe a group of uninhabited East China Sea islets - known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan - as being inherently part of Japan. The books also revise some references to the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese forces went on a rape and murder spree for several weeks through the city, then known as Nanking.

"I want to reiterate that Diaoyu and its affiliated islands have belonged to China since ancient times. No matter what measures Japan may take to promote or push its stance, it will not change the basic fact that Diaoyu belongs to China," she said.

"The Nanjing massacre was an atrocity carried out by the Japanese militarists when they invaded China. The evidence is cast iron and a conclusion was reached long ago about it. This whitewashing and censoring by Japan in these text books again shows that Japan is unwilling to face up to historical mistakes," the Chinese official added.

She further called on Japan "to reflect on its militarist aggression, educate its younger generation correctly, and improve ties with its neighbors through practical action.”

Relations between China and Japan have long been troubled by a territorial dispute as well as by what China regards as Japan’s failure to properly compensate its World War II-era atrocities.

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