President Xi Jinping’s March 28th denunciation of Japan over its war-time past, including the “Nanjing Incident” in 1937, makes one suspect the Chinese are spurred by an insatiable and malicious desire to completely crush Japan.

　　　Immediately after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Yasukuni Shrine last December 26th, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi summoned Japanese Ambassador Masato Kitera, declaring that China “will fight to the finish” if Abe intends to continue to “intensify the tension and confrontation” between Beijing and Tokyo.

　　　For shame, Mr. Foreign Minister. The relationship between Japan and China has long been tense and confrontational—even before Abe’s Yasukuni visit. Abe has kept the door of dialogue open, but neither China nor Korea has yet to respond. To say China is compelled to “fight to the finish” is arbitrarily shifting to Japan the responsibility for the strained relationship. If Wang really meant what he had to say about China’s posture towards Japan, then Japan must indeed be prepared to “fight to the finish”—if and when challenged.

　　　While refusing to agree to a summit meeting with Japan since the second Abe administration was inaugurated in December 2012, China has never missed an opportunity to criticize Japan’s war-time past. In January this year, China erected in Harbin a statue of a Korean independence activist, Ahn Jung-geun, at the request of South Korean President Park Geun-hye. Ahn, a national hero in South Korea, is recognized in Japan as the terrorist who in Harbin in 1909 assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Resident General of Korea under Japanese rule. In February, China designated December 13th as a day of remembrance for Nanjing victims. Then on March 18th, a Chinese court accepted a lawsuit that could determine whether Japanese companies must compensate former Chinese laborers and their families for forced labor during the war. There has since been a renewed trend across China to bring similar lawsuits against Japanese corporations.

　　　The Chinese are fabricating stories about Japanese corporations’ brutal treatment of Chinese workers and then spreading those fabrications in detailed accounts throughout the world. The Xi administration is positioning 2014—which marks the 120th anniversary of the First Sino-Japanese War—as year one in its campaign to expose, as well as fight, Japanese militarism, with Xi standing at the forefront of the “war on history,” as he demonstrated recently in Berlin.

　　　Since assuming the presidency about a year ago, Xi has rarely answered questions during press conferences. In the German capital this time, Xi made the following remarks to the press prior to a news conference:

　　　– The Japanese military killed or wounded over 35 million Chinese in
　　　　　a war of aggression stemming from militarism;

　　　– The Japanese military killed over 300,000 people in Nanjing alone;

　　　– The Chinese and the Germans are two great races who are
　　　　　contributing to the progress of mankind’s civilization; and,

　　　– While China does not intend to seek hegemony, it will never again
　　　　　allow itself to be exploited by foreign powers.

Tragedy for Future Generations

　　　That Xi wants to put himself on the frontlines of this bitter war on history is a serious matter of concern for us Japanese. It plainly means China is going all out to take the offensive against Japan. Let there be no misreading of China’s true intention at this juncture. We must understand that this battle over history is a fateful struggle that our nation cannot avoid. Unless amply prepared for any contingency and ready to retaliate with all our might, Japan will be crushed spiritually—a serious tragedy for future generations.

　　　In every respect, Xi’s remarks are full of lies and filled with shameless fabrication. Chinese leaders from the president down seem to believe that lies told 100 times become the truth. Because they feel no shame in telling lies, Japan must stand ready to effectively refute every single lie they tell. It is not difficult to rebut the Chinese, so long as one is well versed in historical truth.

　　　Let us first refute the lie that the Japanese military killed or wounded 35 million Chinese during the war.

　　　It was after the end of the war that the Nationalist Party, which still retained power at that time, asserted that 3.2 million Chinese—soldiers and civilians combined—had been killed or wounded. The Nationalists failed to produce the basis for the number. Shortly afterwards, they increased the number to 5.79 million—a sudden increase by some 2.6 million victims. Again, no basis for the calculation was presented. And yet, this figure, obviously based on haphazard calculations, was exaggerated astronomically after the Communists defeated the Nationalists and came to power, claiming that the “real” number of victims of Japanese aggression was 21.68 million.

　　　The Chinese Communist Party (CPC) over a long period of time listed the 21 million-plus figure as representing the total number of Chinese victims—until it was drastically increased under then President Jiang Zemin.

　　　As is widely known, it was Jiang who implemented China’s anti-Japanese education under the slogan of promoting patriotic education. Innumerable fabrications are noticeable in Chinese school textbooks regarding China’s dealings with virtually all of the nations on the earth—not only Japan.

　　　Attending a memorial ceremony in May 1995 marking the 50th anniversary of the victory of the Allies in World War II, Jiang abruptly announced that a total of 35 million Chinese had actually been killed or wounded by the Japanese military. Once more no substantiation was given for this number.

　　　Why is it that the number of victims has kept growing in this fashion over the years? And what are the sources for these alleged numbers? In China, only textbooks approved by the government are available. These textbooks inevitably list unsubstantiated numbers of victims of Japanese aggression. The number listed in the standard history textbook in 1960 was 10 million (dead or wounded); this was revised to 21 million in 1980, and then to 35 million in 1995.

Historical Facts Reflecting Ethnic Sentiments in China

　　　Back in 2005, I had a chance to meet Dr. Bu Ping, Director of the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and ask him about these numbers. Incredibly, here is what this renowned Chinese expert on Japan had to say: as for the numbers of those killed or wounded during the war, “historical facts do not exist independently. Rather, they have a direct relation to the feelings and emotions of the people in our country.” As regards the number of victims in Nanjing, there “naturally is a basis for this specific number. Mind you, however, the number does not merely represent the total of each and every victim of the incident put together. One must take into consideration the sentiments of the victims.”

　　　Coming from this scholar who commands a high reputation in Japan, the statement was stunning. The Academy of Social Sciences is an authoritative think tank of the Chinese government. We in essence have a leading scholar belonging to a leading Chinese research institute blatantly admitting that fabrication of historical facts to reflect the feelings of his country’s people is only to be expected. This means that you can safely conclude that all of China, including its academia, lies deeply buried in a totally murky and abnormal world.

　　　China’s propensity to fabricate goes beyond just the realm of numbers. Anything unfavorable to the CPC ends up being grossly twisted. For example, it is generally accepted today that the Korean War (1950-53) started when North Korea attacked South Korea, with China subsequently mobilizing 2.9 million soldiers to support the North. However, the standard Chinese school history textbook still preaches that the Korean War “started with the invasion of Korea by American capitalistic forces.”

　　　I asked Prof. Bu about this point, too, and could not help laughing when I drew this answer: China is still investigating the truth about the origin of the Korean War.

　　　While in Berlin, Xi asserted that China is significantly contributing to the progress of mankind’s civilization, claiming that it will not seek hegemony. What a shameless claim. How can China claim it is contributing to mankind’s civilization when it has so brutally suppressed the Tibetans, the Uighurs, and the Mongolians? Does China define its civilization as sending to prison pro-democracy leaders one after another? Isn’t China seeking hegemony by turning the South China Sea into its own inland sea and endeavoring to wrest the Senkaku Islands from Japan?

　　　Let me repeat once again: If China is seriously determined to “fight to the finish,” then why not let the battle be joined? Which makes it all the more important for us Japanese to equip ourselves with the ability to powerfully counter China on the basis of historical facts.

 (Translated from “Renaissance Japan” column no. 602 in the April 10, 2014 issue of The Weekly Shincho)