Japan may cut Unesco funding over Nanjing massacre move

Diplomatic relations between China and Japan have never been good due to their shared history and a bitter dispute over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.

“Japan should abide by the four-point principled agreement, properly handling sensitive issues such as in historical and military security areas”, said the top diplomat of China.

“We want to consider reviewing every possible measure, including a suspension of paying our country’s contributions”, he said without elaboration. “We were not even allowed access to the contents of the Chinese documents”, he said.

Japan has put up frantic opposition since China filed the official application to UNESCO for these two sets of documents. It is high time for Japan to face up to the facts, reflect on its aggression, correct mistakes, and win over the trust of the global community through practical actions.

In an October. 11 speech, Toshihiro Nikai, General Council chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said: “I have said that Japan should not pay for UNESCO expenses”.

Tokyo – one of UNESCO’s largest funders – had called for the Nanjing documents not to be included and accused the body of being politicised. Japan believes that the number of victims is highly exaggerated.

The materials submitted consist of documents about the massacre, as well as post-war investigation and trials that were documented by the Chinese National Government’s Military Tribunal after the war.

Japan has warned that it might halt funding for UNESCO over the move, prompting a strong retort from the Chinese side.

Japan’s foreign ministry said the nomination “raises questions about the action of the worldwide organisation that ought to be neutral and fair”, adding that “it is evident that there is a problem about the veracity” of the archives.

In June past year, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying explained the Chinese government made a decision to apply to prevent a recurrence of such atrocities.

“Facts should not be denied and history not re-written”. History is not to be falsified. The three leaders are expected to discuss economic cooperation, in particular on a proposed trilateral free-trade agreement. The documents show Japanese troops killing unarmed Chinese.