UNESCO decision 'beyond criticism'

A former Japanese prime minister called on Tokyo to display a more humble attitude toward the UN cultural body's decision to incorporate Chinese documents on the Nanjing Massacre into the Memory of the World Register.

"Japan should not criticize UNESCO's decision, as they made it not under pressure from China but based on the common values of the international community," Yukio Hatoyama, who served as Japan's prime minister from 2009 to 2010, told China Daily on Wednesday while attending the Binhai Forumon Peace& Development in North-East Asia in Tianjin.

His comments were in response to those made on Monday by Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, who threatened to cut funding to UNESCO and questioned the cultural body's "fairness and transparency".