THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 14, 1994 TAG: 9406140005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: By EVANGELINE SU
DATELINE: 940614 LENGTH: Medium
Who?
{REST} ``THEY,'' she explained, were the Society for Studies of Japanese Aggression Against China (SSJAC) which has its headquarters in Maryland.
The committee, to whom Mom went to listen, held a rally in Washington, D.C., on June 12 to protest President Clinton's support for aiding Japan as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. This position gives Japan, a non-military country, veto power.
The United Against Japan for Justice and True History Committee cites the Nanking Massacre, Malaya massacre, Bataan death march, slave labor, human experimentation for biochemical warfare, and even unfair trade practices as some of the many crimes that the Japanese have committed - all reasons for objecting to the addition of Japan to the Security Council. This committee also asserts that Japan has refused to admit to these crimes and has distorted modern Asian history.
The protesters are acting on the Confucian precept that one must ``recompense injury with justice.'' The committee asked in October 1993 that Japan correct its distortions of World War II history, compensate war victims and stop its unfair trade practices in order to repair the injuries it inflicted upon others and thus to qualify for the U.N. Security Council seat.
Rallies across the nation, from Hawaii and San Francisco all the way to Washington, D.C., took place to coincide with the Japanese emperor's visit to the United States - in particular his visit with President Clinton.
As a Chinese-American teen living here in the United States, I have had little formal education about Chinese history and culture. Curiosity prodded me to look through the pile of pictures and literature describing the Japanese atrocities. While I stared horrified at the accounts of historians, witnesses and soldiers, I thought of what this all boils down to for me.
To be just, I tried to see President Clinton's perspective. The United States needs something with which it can bargain in the trade talks with Japan. This seat on the Security Council is just what U.S. trade representatives needed as their bargaining chip to prod the talks in the right direction.
I also see those people who are so fiercely fighting the repression of political dissidents in mainland China. I wonder if maybe it is time to show the world that the United States will stand up for the rights of other brutalized people by giving support to Chinese opposition to Japan's acquisition of a U.N. Security Council seat. Maybe a move from the American government will spur the Chinese government to do something.
On the other hand, I could see the anger of the Chinese-Americans. They, like the Jews, have amongst their family members today survivors of the various massacres, which have been termed ``The Chinese Holocaust.'' Some of these survivors live in Hampton Roads.
Vivid pictures of the Nanking massacre, which marked its 56th anniversary this past winter, boast of horrors too gruesome to relate.
In a jarring contrast of worlds, an image of a Japanese officer ``beheading'' a young Chinese man whose hands are folded in what appears to be prayer now haunts my desk in the space next to my calculus books.
Numerous reports from witnesses, and even a story about the killing contest between Japanese lieutenants Toshiaki Mukai and Iwa Noda of the 16th Division, are cited in the articles by various Chinese-American historians and engineers.
It is then that I recognize the Chinese people's need for some kind of apology to heal the wounds, even if it comes in a form like the Nuremberg trials.
The more I think about it, the more I question why any of this has to happen in the world today.
We have the technology to do so much good, but crimes, old hatreds and fears still surface to cause pain and conflict around the world. Just look at World War II and at Bosnia today. The racism, nationalism and all those other ``isms'' keep on dividing all of us. When will it stop? and more important, will I live to see it end?
by CNB