Japan warned against historical denialism

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Friday that it is deeply concerning that historical denialism continues to grow and spread in Japan, adding that the danger posed by the trend is self-evident.

Guo made the remarks in response to a question about Japan's approach to its wartime history, as Friday marked the 95th anniversary of the September 18 Incident in 1931, when Japanese troops began the bloody invasion of China.

The September 18 Incident and the subsequent resistance on the Chinese side marked the beginning of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), a significant part of the World Anti-Fascist War.

Guo said that the incident was a war plot long concealed by the Japanese government and the vast majority of the Japanese people did not learn the truth until the Tokyo Trials, a series of landmark proceedings that held Japanese wartime leaders accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during World War II.

He said Japanese right-wing forces have even used artificial intelligence to systematically filter prewar archives and records of the Tokyo Trials in an attempt to whitewash Japan's war crimes and entrench a distorted view of history.

"Such denialism represents not only a serious regression in historical understanding, but also an organized and politically motivated countercurrent," Guo said.

The purpose of such denialism, Guo said, is to further mislead the Japanese public and remove obstacles to Japan's attempts to cast off the constraints of the postwar system and accelerate remilitarization.

"To deny Japan's crimes of aggression is to challenge the verdict of history and undermine the postwar international order," he added.

"We urge Japan to face squarely and reflect deeply on its history of aggression, and earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the rest of the world through concrete actions," Guo said.

He also called on countries in the region to jointly safeguard the victorious outcomes of World War II and uphold the bottom line of peace.