When asked to comment on an article published by Thai media titled Comfort women must not be erased, and in recent years, Japan has also attempted to block the installation of comfort women statues in the US, Canada, Germany, Australia and the Philippines, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Wednesday that China has repeatedly clarified its position on the comfort women issue. The forced recruitment of comfort women is a grave crime against humanity perpetrated by Japanese militarism during its wars of aggression and expansion. It constituted a brutal violation of the fundamental human rights of people from China, the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asian countries and other nations. There is overwhelming, irrefutable evidence of these heinous atrocities, which can never be denied.
The late Yohei Kono, former president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, once issued an official statement on the comfort women issue, acknowledging the Japanese government’s responsibility and expressing remorse and an apology, Guo said. However, certain forces in Japan have long attempted to deny and even distort the history of aggression. They trivialize the comfort women issue, strip victims of their right to seek justice and compensation, and repeatedly rub salt into the victims’ wounds, the spokesperson said.
The Japanese government has also obstructed relevant countries from erecting memorial statues for comfort women, sparking strong outrage among civil society organizations and people from all sectors of society. Not long ago, UN human rights experts voiced grave concern over the comfort women issue and called on Japan to deliver a formal apology and provide full compensation, Guo said.
“We urge Japan’s ruling authorities to squarely face its history of aggression, sincerely admit its crimes and offer genuine apologies, stop covering up the truth and suppressing voices of justice, and abandon the misguided moves toward remilitarization,” Guo added.
“We have also noted that the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has urged the Philippines to integrate the issue of comfort women into mainstream education. History is the best sobering reminder. All victimized countries should uphold a correct view of World War II history, safeguard historical truth, prevent such tragedies from happening again, and jointly preserve the hard-won peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region,” Guo said.
Global Times
