A New Batch of Evidence on Japanese Bacterial and Chemical Warfare Against China Released

Xinhua News Agency, Harbin, November 11 (Reporters Yang Siqi, He Shan) This year marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Trials. From November 9 to 11, the "Remembering History, Guarding Justice - Academic Seminar on the Crimes of Bacterial and Chemical Warfare by the Japanese Army in China" was held in Heilongjiang.

The conference was jointly hosted by the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Harbin Museum of Evidence of the Crimes of the Japanese Army's Unit 731. Dozens of experts and scholars from research institutes, universities, and cultural heritage venues across the country attended the conference to release a batch of new discoveries, new evidence, and new results.

New research adds new evidence

Currently, Japanese right-wing forces are attempting to downplay, distort, and even deny the crimes of bacterial and chemical warfare committed by the Japanese Army in China. Experts at the conference believe that deeply excavating archival materials is key to constructing a system of evidence and refuting historical nihilism.

Jin Shicheng, a member of the Unit 731 Museum, based on the latest research disclosed by the "Body Declaration" archives of the 731 and 516 units, restored the "Cleanup Team" specifically used for post-war cleanup by the 516 unit. This team of about 70 people was responsible for transporting, burying, and abandoning chemical weapons before the main force retreated, making them direct witnesses to the burial sites of chemical weapons left by the Japanese Army at that time, potentially providing breakthroughs in uncovering buried information.

As the first justice court specifically judging Japanese bacterial warfare crimes after World War II, the Khabarovsk Trials filled the gap left by the Tokyo Trials in addressing the crimes of the 731 unit. Gong Wenjing, director of the International Research Center for 731 Issues at the Harbin Academy of Social Sciences, introduced that the cross-comparison of archives from China, the United States, Japan, and Russia has made the evidence chain of the Japanese Army's bacterial warfare system more complete. The declassified Khabarovsk trial archives from the Russian side and the historical materials transferred to us, along with declassified documents from the U.S. and Japanese historical literature, are gradually restoring the full picture of the Soviet trials of Japanese bacterial warfare criminals.

Archives make the truth clearer, and modern biotechnology allows physical evidence to "speak." Chinese researchers tested soil samples collected from the Four Square Building area of the former site of the 731 unit, confirming from a biological perspective that the 731 unit indeed conducted weaponization research on anthrax spores here.

Professor Wang Meng from the History Department of Wuhan University introduced two research findings. Among the relics unearthed at the former site of the Tokyo Army Medical School, the remains of victims generally showed signs of human cutting, drilling, and neurosurgery, revealing that the Japanese Army had conducted cruel human experiments; among the 41 skull remains of victims unearthed at Jiuhua Mountain in Nanjing, genes of cholera toxin were detected, providing further ironclad evidence of the Japanese Army's human experiments in East China.

In addition, the introduction of third-party historical materials has further broadened the perspective of historical evidence. Professor Zhou Donghua from Hangzhou Normal University introduced that by deeply excavating archives from American church hospitals, personal diaries of scientists, and other international third-party records, the research team found records of a sudden outbreak of plague in Ningbo during the war, providing strong evidence to expose the atrocities of the Japanese Army's bacterial warfare.

Though the war has ended, the legacy of poison remains

Although the smoke of war has dissipated, the Japanese Army left behind a large number of chemical weapons in many places in China, which still seriously threaten the lives, property, and ecological safety of the Chinese people.

Gao Xiaoyan, a researcher at the Historical Research Institute of the Heilongjiang Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the Japanese Army's implementation of chemical warfare was premeditated and involved long-term preparation, forming a complete chain of evil from research and production to personnel training and final implementation. She emphasized that despite being buried underground for decades, the toxicity of chemical agents such as mustard gas has not diminished, and the claim that "harm has weakened" is unfounded.

In the face of historical legacy issues, Du Jidong, a researcher at the Institute of Chinese-style Modernization of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the Chemical Weapons Convention clearly stipulates that the country that abandoned chemical weapons bears full responsibility for their destruction, but the Japanese side has always been passive in fulfilling its obligations, concealing key information, and the destruction process has been overdue four times. As of now, 18 provinces in China have discovered over 200 sites of Japanese abandoned chemical weapons, and there are still many toxic shells yet to be found.

"Some chemical weapons cause lifelong harm, bringing irreparable trauma to victims and their families," said Wang Xuan, director of the Biochemical Weapons Archive Research Center in Yiwu. Whether it is victims who suffered from gas attacks during the war or civilians who were poisoned due to accidental exposure after the war, they are all witnesses to this dark history. For more than twenty years, she has led university student volunteers to establish a victim investigation database, striving to restore the truth.

Guarding justice, defending peace

Zou Haodan, an associate researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, found through sorting out the official positions of Japan that the Japanese side deliberately limits the handling of abandoned chemical weapons to the scope of "fulfilling the convention" and "specific payments," drawing a clear line from "war compensation." This practice of "preemptive exemption" essentially aims to cover up the "state crime" nature of the Japanese Army's implementation of chemical warfare and attempts to evade national war responsibility.

Japanese right-wing forces distort and beautify the history of aggression, attempting to alter the memories of the younger generation. "In the historical memory presented through the internet and visual products, forms such as ACGN (Animation, Comic, Game, Novel) showcasing 'Kantai Collection' and 'Cool Japan Plan' reveal a new form of Japanese militarism today," said Professor Tao Fuwen from the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University. Currently, it is crucial to pay close attention to the impact of online polarization on the cognitive shaping of Japanese youth.

In the face of the Japanese side's dual "avoidance of responsibility" on both real and historical levels, Wu Huaizhong, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that the bacterial and chemical warfare implemented by the Japanese Army in China is the darkest and most secretive part of Japan's militaristic crimes against humanity. More than 80 years later, the current denial of aggressive history and beautification of war crimes in Japan has not only not faded but has deeply intertwined with its political rightward shift and "remilitarization."

"These facts remind us that the efforts to expose historical truths and be vigilant against Japan's 'remilitarization' are far from over, and the task of guarding justice and defending peace remains arduous," said Wu Huaizhong.