China & Japan: History of tensions - BBC News

They are Asia's two economic giants yet the historical record of Japan and China continues to cause tensions. The BBC World News reporter Mariko Oi and Haining Liu, a former reporter for Chinese State TV, talk to Lucy Hockings on BBC World News

[thepolishwatermelon]

Those 2 ladies are fantastic. If every conflict region had a pair like them, problems might go away; at least in the minds of ordinary people when it comes to ordinary people of other countries.

[dalinghome]

Japanese logic is that like a school child bully another child and rob all his money and return half to it, and say hey sorry for what i did. And because of Japanese apology, the teacher phrases him for taking initiatives to make an apology. What a good kid.

[hjk]

Japan! Remeber Nanjing massacre, Comfort women, Abuse to Korean and Chinese, Unit 731 and a lot of war crimes.
Korea and China never forget Japan's crimes.
We do not need monetary reward. We need just apology and History education about War crimes.

[NETXYMOVIE]

If you compare the apologies between Germany and Japan, I guess there you'll find the difference and why Chinese are always so angry. To argue about the numbers being slaughtered in NanJing? And at the same time you told me that Japanese has already apologized? First, the number was from a legal file made by the international law court, it was made up by Chinese people. Second, you can only find 200, 000 registered citizen names remained doesn't mean it only has 200, 000 people. For those people who doesn't understand what NanJing was, I'll give you a hint: in 16th century, NanJing was the largest city in Asia, and had a population of 1 million people, and was the first capital city of China. That was nearly 400 years ago! And NanJing didn't encounter any sort of major war attack until the Japanese came in 1931. Another thing we have to know is, not every Chinese who live in NanJing would be registered as NanJing citizen, there are a huge portion of people like the merchant, labors, sailors and their families who could be registered somewhere else but they've been living in NanJing for the most of their lives.
To that end, when some Japanese historian uses the registered population to deny an international law court supported figure, how can Chinese people be calm and accept their so called apologies?

[askahart]

As a Japanese, I couldn't like this video enough. Japanese citizens should be educated about the facts, sincerely apologize to China AND Korea, and condemn Japanese war criminals rightly. 

Why can't we be like Europe, hold a mild disdain for each other, but let out all that tension, in a yearly ritual and call it "Asiavision".

[wasukoysiripong]

If Japan sincerely wants to apologize for the war, they have to do the following:

1. Take the tomb stones of Class A criminals out of Yasukuni Shrine.
2. Return all the Chinese and Korean territories that it has occupied during the war, e.g. Diaoyu and Dokdo Islands.
3. The government must make an official apology. Personal apologies from some politicians don't count.
4. Clearly admit in their school history textbooks that what they did during the war was wrong.

If they had done all these, and the Chinese and Koreans were still unsatisfied, then I would agree that it's the fault on the Chinese and Korean side.

[bigblackape]

People seem to compare Mao's great leap forward with Japan's war atrocities and I have to say there is a huge error in this type of reasoning. First of all, you need to look at the intentions and the background and then you'll understand you can't really compare the two. Japanese soldiers killed and raped because many of them simply wanted to and enjoyed doing it (of course many were ordered to as well). Also, they killed on the basis of a war of aggression. Their aim was to invade, occupy, and conquer territory. This is absolutely unacceptable and it can be considered that the Japanese had the intent to damage China for their benefit. Mao's China on the other hand, did have a real intention to improve China's economy, people's well being, and other aspects of the nation. Now, we can probably agree that more people died in this time then died in the war and that was because most of China's policies failed miserably. 

With that said, these are two very different situations and should not in any way diminish Japan's crimes or justify Japan's reluctance to apologize and accept their war time atrocities. 

[ben]

This Chinese lady is a joke, she has not done her homework. When the interviewer brought up the Japanese financial aid to China which is about $36 billion over 20 plus years, she should have mentioned China willingly renounced its claim to war reparation from Japan. Furthermore she should make it clear that the aid from Japanese ODA is a loan not a donation. And, the fact that China forgo the claim of war reparation is never talked about in Japan. All the Japanese talked about is their aid to China. Let’s make it clear, the generous one here is China because the war reparation would have been much much greater than the $36 billion loan

[feiyi]

It's hard for some Chinese people to move on and forgive. I don't want to be offensive, but think about that : what if some one killed your grandpa, would you choose to forgiveness ?

[uchidaoginome]

They are both quite intelligent and even-tempered. Perhaps their talents are best used in the political arena rather than as journalists.

[paulmaking]

I'm very proud to be Chinese & Asian. I have nothing against Japan, actually love, admire & deep respect for Japan. I'm only against some Japanese government policies & some Japanese politicians. Other than that I love Japan, we both great Asian nations. Asian century need China, Japan, India, Korea, Indonesia and other Asian powers working together to return Asia centre stage again. Also Asian people including Chinese people must remember Japan have almost single-handedly contributed Asia's rise through trade & investment, When things calm down & become more friendly between China & Japan we can say to Japan THANK YOU to Japan for the rise of Asian economies.

[JR]

BBC is simply the best. It is decent, neutral, insightful and not sensational. 

[Eqgr]

THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR POSTING THIS!!!!

[freetibet]

FREE TIBET!!! FREE UIGHUR!!!! FREE TIBET!!!! FREE UIGHUR!!!!

[ちかげりゅう]

My great grandfather still cries when he talks about the nanking massacre, his pregnant mother was killed in front of him
Idk, I'm sorry if I've offend anyone or anything, wasn't my intention

[ShredST]

The reason that Japan has never really apologized to China is that China didn't actually beat Japan in WWII; the US did.

[hewu]

I only have one suggestion for Japanese government: Apologize like you mean it.

[waynetong]

 After WW 2, Germany apologized. But Germany didn't have to apologize many times. Germany's signature apology in 1970 was a magic touch because the apology was full of sincerity and solemnity. From then on, Israel and German are friends again. They set up grand example. In comparison, Japanese people claim Japan has apologized over 20 times. Really ? People around the world are not blind and stupid. We all know the most important and critical part of any apology is sincerity. If a apology one day is followed by a denial and/or accusatin the other day. Would that be treated as a bonafide apology  ?   From every angle that kind of "apologies" are more like insults !

[Deerfriendd]

Thumbs up if you think Japan is worse than Nazi back in WW2

[RosemaryKCire]

What the unit 731 did will never be forgotten, the Japanese must pay for it. It´s to late for an apology now.