Another "comfort woman" - Huang Youliang, who was raped, enslaved and tortured for four years by Japanese troops during World War II in a wartime brothel, the Liangqiao comfort station - passed away at the age of 90 at her home in the village of Yidui in China's southern island province of Hainan on August 12, 2017. She was caught by patrolling Japanese soldiers and raped at the age of 14 while she was working alone on a farm one day in November 1941.

It's extremely painful to realize that she didn't receive any apology or compensation from the Japanese government before she died. The passing of Huang Youliang leaves now only 14 "comfort women," the term for those forced into sexual slavery during the war by Japanese soldiers, still surviving on the Chinese mainland.

The heart-wrenching stories of Chinese comfort women like Wan Aihua, Lei Guiying , Wei Shaolan, Lin Ailan , Zhang Xiantu, Zhuo Tianmei, Hao Yuelian, Cao Heimao to name a few, are painful to read and reveal the darkest possible crimes on the spectrum of sexual violence which were carried out under the aegis of the "dehumanized" Japanese military men.

As young girls then, they are old women now. They will die one day, but their tearful stories will continue for many generations to come. Only a handful are still alive and few have publicly talked about their gory experiences. The "uncomforting" stories of the comfort women will be heard. The inhumane acts of the Japanese soldiers require nothing short of an unconditional apology from the Japanese government to help the comfort women find peace in their final days.

It is important to point out that the Japanese government has so far refused to acknowledge its legal responsibility for the "comfort women." It should be noted here that a total of 24 Chinese "comfort women" sued the Japanese government, demanding an apology for wartime rape and sexual enslavement, but on August 30, 2006 the Japanese court finally rejected their appeals saying that an individual Chinese person had no right to sue the Japanese state.

They wrote to Japan's former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and present Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, hoping that the Japanese government would solve the issues, apologize and pay compensation to the "comfort women," but did not get a reply.

As such, the gruesome events of barbarism must be unmasked to raise global awareness about the plight of Chinese comfort women and put pressure on Japan to come up with the necessary remedies for its enslavement of Chinese and other Asian women during World War II. The comfort women's tragic stories have become part of the emerging transnational memory of World War II.

Undoubtedly, the use of comfort women was a terrible, egregious violation of human rights. It's extremely unfortunate that Japan's government has offered no apology or remorse to all of the women who underwent immeasurable and painful experiences and suffered incurable physical and psychological wounds at comfort stations established by the Japanese occupiers between 1937 and the Japanese defeat. Japan should give a full account of the sexual abuse of women by its military.

It's an issue which has soured bilateral ties between China and Japan for years. Today's Japanese leaders must not evade the weight of the past. What Japan did to China in World War II was very dangerous and Japan should bear the consequences. The piercing pain experienced by the comfort women can no longer be hidden from history despite the Japanese government's denial.

During China's epic V-Day parade on September 3, 2015, President Xi jinping reiterated that the Chinese government will continue seeking justice for Chinese women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese during World War II. Japan should face up to its history and deal with the issue in a responsible way.

China should expose the atrocities of the Japanese imperial army, so former "comfort women" can live to see the offenders apologize. Common folks around the world must never forget the suffering and humiliation inflicted upon the comfort women during World War II. The whole world should give these women honor and respect. Let me conclude echoing the words of Lei Guiying, one of the "comfort women" who died in 2007: "May the tragedy not be repeated. May there be no more wars."

(This piece was originally published on china.org.cn. The author is secretary of New Horizon Radio Listeners' Club, West Bengal, India. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the view of CGTN.)