China marks Nanking Massacre’s 80th anniversary
NANJING, China — Chinese officials struck a tempered tone on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre on Wednesday, saying China would “look forward” and deepen friendship with its neighbour Japan despite historical misgivings.
Chinese President Xi Jinping led a citywide minute of silence but did not speak as Yu Zhengsheng, head of China’s parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history and look forward to the future.
The remarks were a departure from China’s frequent criticism of Japan for not showing sufficient contrition for the brutality of its expansionist campaign that swept across Asia during the first half of the 20th century. China’s ruling Communist Party has often allowed anti-Japanese sentiment to build domestically, but relations have improved in recent months.
China’s government and a 1946 international postwar tribunal say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops in a weeks-long frenzy of murder, rape and arson after Nanking — China’s capital at the time — fell on Dec. 13, 1937, after bitter street fighting in Shanghai.