The Tokyo High Court rejected claims for compensation brought by
Chinese victims of Japan's World War II atrocities on Tuesday.
The 10 rebuffed plaintiffs include victims and family members of
Japan's Unit 731, which conducted biological warfare experiments,
the Nanjing Massacre and firebombing of Yong'an, Fujian
Province.
Upholding the ruling of a lower court, the high court's
presiding judge Masahito Monguchi stated that under international
and civil law, individual war victims do not have a right to seek
compensation directly from a warring nation.
In the previous ruling issued in September 1999, the Tokyo
District Court, while recognizing the facts of the plaintiffs'
claims, also denied their claims for damages.
The plaintiffs have said they will appeal Tuesday's ruling.
Banging her fists on the arms of her wheelchair, Guo Jinglan,
83, refused to give up her fight. "I'm determined to take care of
myself and fight to the end," she said.
Guo and her husband were arrested by Japanese troops in 1941 in
northeastern Heilongjiang
Province on charges of conducting resistance activities. After
interrogation, her husband was sent to Unit 731 and never
returned.
"Only by recognizing history can Japan play a role in the
international community," said Yoshio Shinozuka, an 81-year-old
former member of Unit 731 who testified for the plaintiffs. "I
don't know how to apologize. Today, I've never felt so ashamed to
be Japanese."
The 10 plaintiffs initially filed the case in 1995, asking the
Japanese government to apologize and pay compensation of 20 million
yen (US$186,000) each.
Also on Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
shrugged off Beijing's complaints about his visits to the Yasukuni
Shrine in Tokyo, which honors several Class-A war criminals along
with other war dead, Kyodo News Service reported on its
website.
"Respective countries have respective histories and traditions
and have different opinions," Koizumi was reported as saying. "It
is necessary to deepen mutual understanding."
On the same day, nationalist lawmakers, headed by a former
defense minister, announced plans to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on
Friday. A spokesman said the visit had been planned for some
time.
Speaking at a meeting on the current tensions between China and
Japan, Foreign Minister?Li
Zhaoxing?said that Japan should take "concrete actions" to
meet its commitment to face and contemplate its history of
aggression.
The foreign minister also encouraged the Chinese public to
translate their patriotism into enthusiasm for work and study.
(China Daily, China.org.cn April 20, 2005)