Days ago, China released a number of historical documents. These were intercepted letters from Japanese soldiers written in China, during the war of Japanese invasion in China from 1937 to 1945. The newly deciphered wartime archives offer fresh evidence of atrocities committed by Japanese troops during this time.
In 1995, China filed its first claim in a Japanese court, against Japan for the army’s use of sex slaves, who were largely drawn from Chinese and Korean women. They are referred to as "comfort women". The court ruled against China in the case, and all the subsequent claims since have failed. Chinese scholars are refuting Japanese court reasoning.
It is an apology they have awaited for decades. The first group of four Chinese wartime victims filed their claims against Japan in 1995.
Nineteen years later, the last of these four women died. She never did get her apology.
Su Zhiliang is the director of the China Research Center of Comfort Women. He told us the reasons given by the Japanese court for dismissing the case.
"One is that the claim has passed the 20 years limitation period. The second is Jurisdictional Immunity of the state, meaning that Japan is not responsible for the country’s actions before the implementation of the State Compensation Law in 1947. The third is that Japan said the Chinese government had volunteered to give up all compensations related to the war, after the two countries resumed diplomatic relations."
However, The Hague Conventions and Geneva Conventions tell a different story.
These are declarations and treaties that establish international standards on the laws of war and war crimes. Both say that limitation periods are not applicable to wartime crimes, including crimes against humanity.
And in light of this, a 1996 report from the United Nations commission on human rights said the use of "comfort women" was inhumane.
"We can see that Nazi war criminals are being hunted around the world even now, 70 years after the war ended. No government can go unpunished for their war crimes," Su said.
Su Zhiliang said the Jurisdictional Immunity claimed by Japan is only applicable to lawsuits inside the country. He also pointed out that though the Chinese government gave up war-related compensation in a 1972 joint statement, this did not include giving up civil compensation.
"The Chinese government gave up compensation for the good of resuming diplomatic relations between the two countries. But, Chinese victims did not give up on their compensation, and we should help them defend their rights," he said.
The director also said that the ultimate goal of filing for compensation is to reveal the facts of history. To know history correctly and learn lessons from it, is vital for any country to progress in its future. And Japan is not standing on the right side of history.
