Editor's note: Rabi Sankar Bosu is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets. He writes about Chinese politics, social and cultural issues, and China-India relations with a special interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

December 13, 2021 marks China's 8th National Memorial Day for the Nanjing Massacre in which more than 300,000 Chinese people, including infants and senior citizens, were brutally murdered and innocent girls and women were raped or gang-raped by Imperial Japanese invaders who occupied Nanjing, the capital of east China's Jiangsu Province on December 13, 1937.

Although conservative Japanese leaders and like-minded historians have denied Japan's role as a perpetrator for the Nanjing Massacre, "Either by refusing to recognize the numbers of victims, discrediting survivors, and even claiming that the carnage never happened," it really happened in Nanjing by the Japanese militarism that finally led to the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

The world shouldn't forget what happened to the Nanjing Massacre victims at the hands of the Japanese army. It can be said that "war's annals will fade into the night," yet the heart-wrenching Nanjing holocaust will be passed on from generation to generation despite the Japanese government's denial.

Neither facts nor figures can ever explain war crimes committed by the Japanese invading army as well as the suffering of thousands and thousands of Chinese "comfort women" in wartime brothels eight decades ago. It's extremely unfortunate that the Japanese government has long attempted to hush up its senseless, brutal atrocities against the Chinese people and militarized sexual violence against Chinese girls and women, which is an unspeakable shame.

Eighty-four years have passed since the Nanjing Massacre, but still it is a key part in the history of the Japanese invasion of China which has become part of the emerging transnational memory of World War II. It has revealed the darkest crimes of sexual violence committed by the inhuman Japanese military men before and during World War II.

This is the dark chapter of history filled with a six-week long rampage of rape, slaughter and destruction that shocked the civilized world.

It should be noted that in 2014 China designated December 13 as the Day of National Mourning in memory of the victims of the Nanjing Massacre so that younger Chinese generations can be reminded of this painful history, take inspiration from it and strive forward on the path of peace and development.

One of Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks on this issue deserves to be quoted: "The purpose of the memorial ceremony for Nanjing Massacre victims is to recall that every good-hearted person yearns for and holds a firm stance of peace, but does not try to prolong hatred." He said this on December 13, 2014 while attending the first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre victims. Xi's speech reminded the world of this tragic piece of history and the value of world peace.

The inhuman acts of the Japanese soldiers against the Chinese people require an unconditional official apology from the Japanese government to help the Nanjing Massacre survivors find peace in their final days. Unfortunately, Japan's government has offered no apology to the survivors of the Nanjing Massacre, including the Chinese comfort women. 

According to the Memorial Hall of the Victims in the Nanjing Massacre, only 61 registered survivors of the massacre are still alive today. They will die one day, but their tearful stories will go on for many generations to come. It's very painful to think they may not receive an apology from Japan before their death.

The atrocities of the Japanese imperial army between 1937 and the Japanese defeat in 1945 must be unmasked to raise global awareness about the piercing pain experienced by the Chinese people. Even today, the world shudders to hear the "uncomforting" stories of the Chinese comfort women.

The Japanese government should face up to its history of war crimes, egregious violation of human rights and sex slavery during World War II. Sadly, Japan's former Prime Ministers Yasuo Fukuda, Yukio Hatoyama, Shinzo Abe and incumbent Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have all shown their flagrant disregard for the victims, survivors of the Nanjing Massacre that angered China over years.

Quite rightly, China gave a right criticism of the Japanese government's human rights abuses in China and other neighboring countries in Asia during World War II. "Relevant people on the Japanese side claimed they care about human rights, but have they forgotten the over 35 million Chinese casualties from the war of Japanese aggression, including the over 300,000 victims of the Nanjing Massacre alone? Convicted World War II class-A war criminals are honored in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, and Japan is evasive on the humanitarian crime of forced recruitment of "comfort women" to this day. Is this how Japan respects human rights?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying asked on March 25.

Undoubtedly, the nefarious deeds committed by the Japanese troops to Chinese and other Asian women went against all tenets of international law, such as the 1929 Geneva Convention and universal standards of morality.

The Nanjing Massacre and the comfort women's tragic stories are China's most agonizing part of history that needs to be acknowledged with dignity. Documents related to the Nanjing Massacre were inscribed in the UNESCO Memory of the World register on October 9, 2015.

Undoubtedly, the UNESCO listing of the Nanjing Massacre reminded "the whole mankind of the cruelty of war and importance of peace" as in the words of Zhang Sheng, Dean of the History Institute of Nanjing University.

The Nanjing Massacre bears the inexcusable acts of Japanese troops on Chinese civilians. The world should not only condemn the brutal crimes against humanity committed by Japanese militarism, but also remind the international community about the dangers linked with the institution of war. The whole world must salute the victims of the Nanjing carnage, including Chinese comfort women – the witnesses of history.

If the Japanese government can really learn from history, it should atone for the Nanjing Massacre without any deceitful denial of its past aggression in China and other Asian countries. It could have helped to improve its ties with China. The Japanese government should apologize for the Nanjing Massacre victims in order to regain trust from the Chinese people and the global community.

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