{"id":131998,"date":"2012-02-23T01:25:48","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T08:25:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/?p=131998"},"modified":"2012-02-23T01:29:03","modified_gmt":"2012-02-23T08:29:03","slug":"nagoya-mayors-nanjing-massacre-denial-sparks-uproar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinadigitaltimes.net\/2012\/02\/nagoya-mayors-nanjing-massacre-denial-sparks-uproar\/","title":{"rendered":"Nagoya Mayor’s Nanjing Massacre Denial Sparks Uproar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Kawamura Takashi’s denial of the infamous 1937 massacre has triggered the suspension of sister-city relations between Nagoya and Nanjing<\/strong><\/a> and a furious backlash among the Chinese public and media. The mayor remains insistent, however, while Tokyo is attempting to play the affair down as a city-to-city matter. From The New York Times:<\/p>\n

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The falling out began Monday, when Nagoya\u2019s mayor, Takashi Kawamura, told a visiting delegation of Chinese Communist Party officials from Nanjing that he doubted that Japanese troops had massacred Chinese civilians. Most historians say that at a minimum, tens of thousands of civilians were slaughtered in Nanjing in one of the most infamous atrocities of Japan\u2019s military expansion across Asia in the early 20th century.<\/p>\n

The falling out underscored how differing views of history remain a problem in Japan\u2019s ties with the nations that it once conquered. While such denials are common by Japanese conservatives like Mr. Kawamura, they are rarely raised in such a public manner, or directly to Chinese officials. But there is also a widely shared perception in Japan that China\u2019s government plays up the massacre for its own propaganda purposes \u2026.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Mr. Kawamura remained unrepentant, saying that he did not intend to retract the statement or apologize. He explained that his father had been a solider in Nanjing in 1945, and was treated kindly by city residents, which he said would have been impossible had an atrocity taken place there just eight years earlier.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Kawamura’s comments caused a fierce and immediate reaction in China<\/strong><\/a>. From The Wall Street Journal:<\/p>\n

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“Nanjing should invite Kawamura Takashi to tour the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall,” one user wrote on popular Twitter-like microblogging service Sina Weibo, where Mr. Kawamura was among the most-discussed topics on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Others, however, directed their ire at Liu Zhiwei, the head of the Nanjing delegation, after Kyodo reported that Mr. Liu shook hands with Mr. Kawamura and didn’t directly challenge his denial of an event often described as Asia’s equivalent to the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

“All the ghosts of the Nanjing Massacre are going to come knocking on Liu Zhiwei’s door,” wrote one Weibo user.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A Global Times editorial also focused on the Nanjing delegates’ allegedly ineffectual response. Editor-in-chief Hu Xijin shared it on Twitter:<\/p>\n

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The provocative remarks of the #Nagoya<\/a> mayor should be strongly refuted, otherwise, more offensive remarks may follow. globaltimes.cn\/NEWS\/tabid\/99\/\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Hu Xijin | \u80e1\u9521\u8fdb (@HuXijinGT) February 22, 2012<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n