China began publishing ‘confessions’ of 45 convicted Japanese World War II criminals on Thursday, officials said, in Beijing’s latest effort to highlight the past amid a territorial dispute between the two countries. The documents, handwritten by Japanese tried and convicted by military courts in China after the war, are being released online one a day for 45 days by the State Archives Administration (SAA), it said in a statement on its website.
In the first, dated 1954 and 38 pages long, Keiku Suzuki, described as a lieutenant general and commander of Japan’s 117th Division, admitted ordering a Colonel Taisuke to ‘burn down the houses of about 800 households and slaughter 1,000 Chinese peasants in a mop-up operation’ in the Tangshan area, according to the official translation.
In the first, dated 1954 and 38 pages long, Keiku Suzuki, described as a lieutenant general and commander of Japan’s 117th Division, admitted ordering a Colonel Taisuke to ‘burn down the houses of about 800 households and slaughter 1,000 Chinese peasants in a mop-up operation’ in the Tangshan area, according to the official translation.