China condemns Japanese city’s kamikaze letters request
Print Edition
China has condemned a Japanese city’s request that the UN world heritage organization register letters by World War II kamikaze pilots in its Memory of the World Register, alongside documents that include the diaries of Anne Frank and the Magna Carta.
The southern Japanese city of Minami Kyushu last week asked the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to register the wills and farewell letters of the suicide pilots who carried out attacks on Allied ships.
The city hosted an airfield from which hundreds of pilots launched suicide missions in 1945, the final year of the war.
China said kamikaze pilots deserved no such recognition.
“The design behind the so-called application for the kamikaze pilots is very clear, which is to try and beautify the Japanese militarist history of invasion,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing.
“This intention is diametrically opposed to UNESCO’s objective of maintaining world peace, and must be strongly condemned and resolutely opposed by the international community.”
China’s ties with Japan have long been marred by Tokyo’s failure to atone for its occupation of parts of China before and during the war.
The kamikaze were suicide pilots recruited by Japan to attack Allied naval vessels during the closing stages of the Pacific campaign. Their attacks were designed to damage warships more effectively than conventional attacks.
Although numbers quoted vary, at least 300 Allied vessels were damaged. The kamikaze also caused serious losses to the American Pacific fleet, especially at Okinawa.
“The application is completely against the mission of the UNESCO to maintain world peace and will surely be strongly condemned and firmly opposed by the international community,” Hua said.
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