In fact, during the Battle of Nanjing, Colonel Hashimoto led heavy artillery to advance to Wuhu, about 100 kilometers from Nanjing, and did not go to Nanjing. That is why they claim that he was responsible for the Nanjing Massacre. They are trying to silence Japan with a makeshift lie.
January 7, 2023
The following is from the February New Year's issue of the monthly magazine WiLL.
It is a unique feature of the conversation between Mr. Sekihei and Mr. Ara Kenichi.
As mentioned, Mr. Ara Kenichi is a senior at my alma mater, which I will always love.
It is a must-read not only for Japanese people but for people worldwide.
The big lie of the "Nanjing Massacre" planted by Jiang Zemin
2022 marks the 85th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre.
A commemorative ceremony is held in Nanjing every year on December 13.
Japan, how long will you remain silent?
Jiang Zemin's anti-Japanese policy
Japanese people caught in a trap.
Seki Hei:
Rather, we were taught the "Three Alls" policy as children.
Rather, we were taught the "Three Alls" policy as children.
The term refers to the brutal operations carried out by the Japanese military in China: "burn all, kill all, and seize all ."
So what about the Nanjing Massacre?
We were not taught about it at all, and the Chinese Communist Party government at the time considered the Nanjing Massacre to have never happened.
Ara:
The "Three Alls" policy was carried out by the Nationalist army that fled to Taiwan to ensure no food was left in the villages when they were defeated, but it was a lie about the Japanese military.
The "Three Alls" policy was carried out by the Nationalist army that fled to Taiwan to ensure no food was left in the villages when they were defeated, but it was a lie about the Japanese military.
Seki Hei:
Some Japanese people exacerbated the Nanjing Massacre.
Some Japanese people exacerbated the Nanjing Massacre.
"Journey to China" (1972) by Honda Katsuichi, former Asahi Shimbun journalist!
Ara:
He wrote that the Nanjing Massacre happened without verifying or corroborating what local people said.
What's more, there were many factual errors.
When he was bombarded with criticism, Honda made the excuse, "I was just speaking on behalf of what the Chinese side said, so if you want to protest, please do so directly with the Chinese side."
It goes against the spirit of journalism.
Sekihei:
I want to say, Shame on you!
I've worked at a university in China, so I know very well that when it becomes clear that media personnel from overseas are coming to China to do interviews or research, the Chinese Communist Party organizes a task force a month in advance and holds a meeting to discuss how to deal with the situation.
Then they decide on the division of roles within the organization, create a scenario, and practice dozens of times in advance, saying, "You play this role," and "You say it like that."
Honda must have fallen into a similar trap.
When a reporter from a major Japanese newspaper came, the government of the time forced the local people to say, "You're 70 years old, so you must have seen the bad things the Japanese army did. Talk about it."
They couldn't refuse, because they would be arrested.
So they tried their best to memorize it. But memorization alone wasn't enough; they had to say it in their own words.
That's how the Chinese Communist Party operates.
Ara:
They were very thorough.
Sekihei:
And so Honda wrote up the Chinese Communist Party's "propaganda" verbatim and spread it around the world.
He was used by the Communist government of the time.
His crimes were grave.
Textbook screening criticized
Ara:
As mentioned in "The Nanjing Massacre Never Happened," it was in 1982 that the Japanese government officially acknowledged the Nanjing Massacre.
The results of the screening of high school textbooks to be used from the following school year were covered by various newspapers, and in those textbooks, the following description of the Nanjing Massacre was given:
"After occupying Nanjing, the Japanese army killed many Chinese military and civilians, and committed acts of violence, plunder and arson, which drew international condemnation as the Nanjing Massacre. It is said that 200,000 Chinese victims died."
So, in the revision, the statement "committed violence, plunder, and arson" and the number of victims were deleted.
Instead, "The incident began when the Japanese army, which had suffered heavy losses due to fierce resistance from the Chinese army, became enraged," was added, emphasizing the legitimacy of the Japanese army.
The Mainichi Shimbun then attacked this revision, saying, "Textbook control to be further strengthened."
Sekihei:
The Mainichi Shimbun's criticism is off the mark.
Ara:
However, the People's Daily reported the Mainichi Shimbun's report four days later.
The report was criticizing Japan's textbook revision, not the content of the revision.
However, this was the first time that the Chinese media had mentioned the Nanjing Massacre.
On July 26, one month after the announcement of the certification, when it seemed that the newspapers' criticism had died down, Xiao Xiang, then former director of the First Asian Bureau of China, summoned Watanabe Koji, the Japanese envoy to China, and suddenly complained that Japanese textbooks had changed the word "invasion" to "advancement" and revised the Nanjing Massacre.
Furthermore, Workers Daily published a photo of the Nanjing Massacre.
It was the first time that the Chinese media had covered the Nanjing Massacre as a means of criticizing Japan.
Colonel Hashimoto Kingoro appears in the photo, but the photographer and location are unknown.
In fact, during the Battle of Nanjing, Colonel Hashimoto led heavy artillery in an advance to Wuhu, about 100 kilometers from Nanjing, and did not go to Nanjing.
But they are claiming that he was the person responsible for the Nanjing Massacre.
It is an attempt to silence Japan with a makeshift lie.
Seki Hei:
It shows how little interest there was in the Nanjing Massacre.
Ara:
However, after the Chinese media reported on the matter, the left-wing press in Japan began to take up the issue of textbook screening.
In the Diet, the opposition parties, particularly, criticized China for not being happy with the rewriting.
Eventually, the Minister of Education, Ogawa Heiji (then in the Suzuki Zenko cabinet), fed up with the relentless attacks, acknowledged the war of aggression and even acknowledged the Nanjing Massacre.
Seki Hei:
Japan's weak diplomacy finally led to this.
Ara:
Yes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is even more understandable.
They just kept demanding that the Ministry of Education rewrite the textbooks.
In response to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' strong insistence, the Ministry of Education decided to bring the revision screening, which is scheduled to be held every three years, forward by one year.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then asked to bring it forward by two years.
Because of the screening system, one year was the limit, so Education Minister Ogawa and Vice-Minister Misumi Tetsuo even resigned in an attempt to resist.
At that time, General Affairs Division Chief Kato Moriyuki advised Minister Ogawa, "This is a matter of national sovereignty. Please reject it as a purely domestic issue!" and continued to refuse to rewrite it.
Sekihei:
When the Kakegawa issue was in the spotlight, Kato made important testimony, saying, "It was not a given that Kakegawa would be involved."
He is a true elite bureaucrat with a strong backbone.
Ara:
As soon as Prime Minister Suzuki saw that he could not bring down the Ministry of Education, he took strong measures.
At the time, Prime Minister Suzuki consulted with Foreign Ministry Asia Bureau Director-General Kiuchi Akitane, and Hashimoto Hiroshi, Information and Culture Bureau Director-General, wrote a statement about their discussion.
It was published as a statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary Miya Hirokiichi (August 26, 1982).
"To promote friendship and goodwill with neighboring Asian countries, we will listen carefully to these criticisms and make corrections under the government's responsibility."
The word "correction" means that the examination was wrong. Prime Minister Suzuki took such a strong approach because he was scheduled to resign three months after the statement was released.
He wanted to put Sino-Japanese friendship at the forefront as his final farewell and plan a visit to China.
However, the Ministry of Education, which had hoped for the word "improvement," found this completely unacceptable.
Since the Ministry only found out about the statement after it was released, it could not do anything.
Seki Hei
It is puzzling that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs obeyed China.
The Harm of the "China School"
Ara
China treats diplomats who are in tune with its will with great hospitality and harshly treats those who do not obey.
It is very blatant.
Anami Koreshige, a member of the China Affairs Division, called the Cultural Revolution the "Jali Revolution," and was protested by the Chinese Embassy in Japan, which led to his being revoked from his position as an embassy secretary.
Eventually, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a path to success is created from "Chief Administrative Officer of the China Division - Chief of Staff of the China Department - Director-General of the Asia Bureau - Ambassador to China."
To walk that path, one must have good relations with China.
In other words, self-preservation takes priority over national interests.
It is unique to China relations, and they came to be called the "China School."
Seki Hei:
Has Japan been beneficial in pandering to China in this way?
We have contributed approximately 3.66 trillion yen to China through ODA (Official Development Assistance) and have not received a single word of thanks.
The more critical issue is that it concerns Japan's security.
If the Chinese government and people recognize that Japan killed 300,000 citizens of Nanjing, then it would be acceptable for them to kill hundreds of thousands of Japanese people, from the government to the general public, in retaliation.
Ara:
So that gives them ammunition to attack.
Seki Hei:
It is possible that China could fire a nuclear weapon at Tokyo.
Not a single Chinese person opposes it.
On the contrary, there is a chorus of support.
"Japan massacred the people of Nanjing, so this is revenge."
Ara:
A Chinese man who committed a crime in Japan was arrested by the police a dozen years ago.
During questioning, the Chinese man reportedly said, "The Japanese killed 300,000 people in Nanjing, so it's okay to do something like this."
Seki Hei:
If we acknowledge the Nanjing Massacre, it will give China a justification for launching a military attack on Japan, no matter how many Japanese casualties it causes.
That's why I feel angry at how the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is acting.
What do they think of the lives of Japanese citizens!
Ara:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Japanese side acknowledged the Nanjing Massacre in a joint Japan-China history study in 2010, and former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama went to Nanjing in 2013 to apologize.
Even though it is clear that the Nanjing Massacre was wartime propaganda, Japan continues to lose the information war.
As Sekihira says, this will give China an excuse to attack Japan, so politicians and others should respond firmly.
SekiHei:
Under the Xi Jinping administration, December 13, the day Japanese troops entered the city, has been designated a national day of commemoration for the "victims" of the "Nanjing Massacre," and commemorative events are held every year.
In this way, anti-Japanese education continues.
Even after Jiang Zemin and Xi Jinping are gone, as long as the Chinese Communist Party remains in power, Japan will continue to be blamed for the Nanjing Massacre.
Are you planning to keep bowing your head forever?
A line has been drawn on the comfort women issue, so I hope that a similarly firm response will be made to the Nanjing Massacre.
