A scene at the opening of the Tokyo Trials of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, in Tokyo, Japan, 1946. /CFP
Editor's note: George Galloway, a special commentator for CGTN, is the leader of the Workers Party of Britain and a former Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The article reflects the authors' opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
One of the great mysteries of our age is why we, the Westerners, are supposed to love Japan and hate China.
China was our wartime ally; Japan was not just our enemy but a vicious genocidal enemy easily the equal of the Nazis in savagery and responsible for even more deaths and atrocities – and for much longer.
Moreover, while defeated Germany spent a few decades in repentance and reparation, Japan has never apologized officially for its fascist barbarism, let alone made recompense.
And while Adolf Hitler killed himself in his bunker, Japanese Emperor Hirohito, who reigned during Japan's aggressions and atrocities, lived out a long life in his palace as a "demigod," with everyone still calling him emperor.
It's not that the West doesn't know what Japan did, because in small part, Japan did it to them as well!
Australian, British and American prisoners of war (POWs) taken by Japan were murdered, tortured, and starved by Hirohito's minions. Films like David Lean's The Bridge over the River Kwai depicted the inhuman treatment of allied prisoners.
Most of the tens of millions of victims of Japanese fascism were fellow Asians. Indians, Burmese, Koreans, Filipinos, Indonesians, Vietnamese, and above all, Chinese.
China suffered well over 35 million casualties fighting Japan's aggressions and massacres. The Nanjing Massacre is one of the biggest war crimes and yet it is virtually unknown in the West.
People visit the former site of the comfort station in Liji Lane, where a huge wall displays photos of "comfort women," in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, east China, August 14, 2018. /CFP
The notorious Unit 731 of the Japanese Army and their atrocious biological experiments on Chinese prisoners and civilians are now forgotten horrors.
May 3rd is the anniversary of the Tokyo Trials, the international military tribunal to try high-ranking Japanese leaders for war crimes. They lasted two whole years but are never mentioned in the same breath as the Nuremberg Trials held by the allied powers to prosecute high-ranking Nazi officials.
Hirohito was declared exempt from the trial! Imagine! The man in whose name such grave crimes were committed remained pampered and revered on his throne.
Unit 731 – one of the most diabolical and fiendish team of scientists ever assembled – traded the results of their inhuman experiments with the United States in exchange for their freedom.
The followers of Hirohito and Hideki Tojo, the Japanese prime minister during these atrocities, transformed themselves into the National Liberal Party and have ruled Japan almost ever since.
We remember the Tokyo Trial today as an opportunity mostly missed. Some called it "victor's justice." But in truth, for the millions who suffered and died, there hasn't been any justice at all.
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