The “comfort women” issue appears, on the surface, to be a bilateral problem between South Korea and Japan. In reality, it is deeper. The key player is increasingly not South Korea, but China, and the ultimate target is not Japan, but the United States, as the comfort women are co-opted by Beijing in its anti-American information war.
China has been waging this war since Beijing realized after the First Gulf War that it would likely be unable to the United States on the battlefield. As the document Unrestricted Warfare, published by two high-ranking Chinese military officials, makes clear, the Chinese have chosen to fight the US, and particularly the US-Japan alliance, using desinformatsiya rather than hardware and troops.
Chinese information warfare in the United States is a massive and multi-front campaign. In December 2017 the Washington Post alerted its readers to “the huge scope and scale of Chinese Communist Party influence operations inside the United States, which permeate American institutions of all kinds.” In May 2017, the New York Times reported that the Chinese Students and Scholars Association at the University of California-San Diego managed “within hours” to get the Dalai Lama uninvited as UCSD commencement speaker. The more than 150 Chinese students and scholars associations in the US, the Times added, are funded and influenced by Chinese Communist Party headquarters.
In January 2018, the Washington Post detailed that UT-Austin rejected funds from the China United States Exchange Foundation because the “Hong Kong-based foundation and its leader, Tung Chee-hwa, are closely linked to the branch of the Chinese Communist Party that manages influence operations abroad.”
But on-campus campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg. The comfort women issue represents arguably Beijing’s most aggressive information-war maneuver. It has been a source of serious friction between Seoul and Tokyo since the 1990s, and in the past three years, has threatened to upend the uneasy security relationship, triangulated through Washington, between South Korea and Japan. Rending relations between the three democracies is China’s premier policy goal in East Asia.
The South Korean government uses the comfort women issue mainly for domestic consumption – as a sure vote-getter or deflector of unwanted scrutiny. China’s ambitions are bigger. The CCP is much more interested in how this issue serves its global agenda; domestic politics runs a distant second. This is the difference and the reason that Beijing can operate on a much larger scale than Seoul on the comfort women front.
A three-front strategy
Globally, Beijing has so far moved through three main vectors: overseas Chinese networks; a largely compliant press; and the United Nations.
An example of the first is the comfort woman statue that mysteriously appeared in Manila in 2017. An investigation by the Sankei Shimbun revealed that the statue project was orchestrated by Overseas Chinese groups in the Philippines, including the Wai Ming Charitable Trust Foundation Company – long a front for politicizing the comfort women issue in mainland China.
Overseas Chinese groups have also pressed hard on the comfort women and Nanjing issues in the US and Canada: In San Francisco, Superior Court judges Julie Tang and Lillian Sing retired from the bench in order to co-found the Comfort Women Justice Coalition, which was ultimately successful in bringing a comfort woman statue to San Francisco. Chinese-American San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee was himself a vocal proponent of the comfort woman statue. In Canada, Chinese-Canadian legislator Jenny Kwan has been pushing for a “Nanking Memorial Day” under the auspices of Canada ALPHA, a propaganda outlet run in-country by Hong Kong-born doctor Joseph Yu Kai Wong. Dr. Wong was one of the first, in 1997, to promote Iris Chang’s book Rape of Nanjing, a project which was, in turn, funded and coordinated by Chinese-American Ignatius Ding and his pro-China group Global Alliance.
A sympathetic Western media, for its part, has largely accepted South Korean and Chinese historical claims and repeats – without adding critical context – what Beijing’s spokespersons say. For example, speaking on January 10, 2018, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang “scolded” Japan about the comfort women issue, standing with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in pressing Tokyo to make yet another apology.
At the United Nations, China has been working to register the comfort women with the UNESCO “Memory of the World” program. Also at the UN, Beijing has repeated the talking points of “sex slavery” and “systematic rape,” demanding that Japan offer a full apology and reparations. In fact, China has partnered with North Korea in the registration efforts. It is notable that several prominent persons connected with Chong Dae Hyup, the most vocal comfort woman-related NGO in South Korea, have been arrested as North Korean spies.
The comfort women issue allows China, a country which leads the world in forced abortions, gendercide (sex-selective abortions of girls in favor of giving birth to boys), and draconian restrictions on a woman’s rights to have children, to deflect from its own women’s rights record. In portraying Japan as uniquely perverted, China hopes to isolate its perennial enemy from the world community while assuming the mantle of champion of gender equality.
The more China can convince the international community to believe the worst about the Japanese, the easier it will be for China to have its way in Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Bhutan, Nepal, Vietnam, the Philippines, Mongolia, and beyond. The comfort women are unwitting ground troops in China’s push to whitewash its own programs against Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians, Falun Gong practitioners, Chinese girls, and dissident Chinese citizens, topple the United States’ base network in East Asia, and retain its title as the regional hegemon.
Comfort women: a nuanced history
None of this is to say that a comfort woman system did not exist.
In the Japanese Empire, time-tested Korean practices of buying and selling women as concubines to members of the elite yangban ruling class served as models for the Japanese military for contracting women to work at military brothels in Manchuria, China, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and was as much a part of the Japanese Empire then as Hawaii is part of the US today. Many women recruited from Korea were bought from their parents by Korean pimps or else were made vague promises by brokers—again, largely Korean—of employment prospects abroad. The Korean pimps and brokers simply repurposed the old yangban trafficking practice in order to deliver the Korean women to the “comfort stations” which the Japanese military used to combat sexually-transmitted diseases and prevent soldiers from revealing classified information to civilian spies posing as prostitutes in unlicensed brothels.
Many comfort women were professional prostitutes from Japan. Traditional Japanese pleasure quarters like Yoshiwara suffered from falling clientele as increasing numbers of Japanese young men were shipped to the front. Many prostitutes made the savvy business decision to go where the work was.
Some comfort women earned enough for their services (at rates set and enforced by the Japanese military authorities) to pay off the advance money given to their parents. Saving money was encouraged by the Japanese military, and accumulating large sums was hardly impracticable.
Now-deceased comfort woman Mun Ok-chu saved up a staggering 26,000 yen in three years (at a time when a sergeant in the Japanese army made between 23 and 30 yen per month). Mun made more money in 1943 – a lot more – than the Japanese lieutenant-general commanding all Imperial land forces in Burma.
More than history
Careful historians in South Korea, Japan, the United States, and elsewhere have repeated historical facts in an attempt to modulate the now-conventional rhetoric. But these historians have been mistaken in imagining that the comfort women issue as simply a historical question. It is not – it is another mode of Chinese disinformation.
But while comfort women propaganda is targeted at the US, a collateral benefit for Beijing lies in seeking revenge against Japan.
For example, in a recent policy speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed three new “State Memorial Days”: July 7, in commemoration of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident; September 3, in commemoration of the Japanese surrender to Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist forces; and December 13, in commemoration of the Japanese advance into Nanking. In other words, China is invoking history in its direct confrontation with Japan.
China is, therefore, co-opting comfort women into the grand project of the CCP to re-assert its authority and to retake East Asia and beyond. What appears to be an issue between South Korea and Japan over history is actually a live-fire battle to draw East Asian states into satellite positions around the “Middle Kingdom” once again.
Jason Morgan is assistant professor at Reitaku University in Chiba, Japan, and a research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies. He holds a PhD in Japanese history from the University of Wisconsin, and an MA in Chinese Studies from the University of Hawaii, Mānoa. From 2014 to 2015 Morgan was a Fulbright scholar at Waseda University in Tokyo.
NO evidence what so ever. I am pretty sure you can find any Japanse Sexual Slaves. You should not ignore solid proof before you blame them.
What this article talks that it is China information war against Japan and US police. It is the old Chinese strategy before ww2 began. Chaing Shek and Madam Chiang worked with FDR and made anti-Japanese propaganda against Japan. It broke the US and Japan relationship. China is still working very hard to break the US-Japan alliance. China is targeting the US. Don’t you get the point?
Talking about Germany. KMT had military advisories in Chaing administration, KMT was an excellent customer for Nazi. Maybe is it the reason you love Germany?
Yap C Seng I’m not the insensitive one. It is you who are dictating that people should not say anything bad about China in front of Thai-Chinese under the pretense of protecting their feelings, and under the wrong assumption that they are likely to be pro-China. (It is obvious you are now trying to backpedal from your original comment). Relax, Thai-Chinese can speak up for themselves. If they hear something they disagree with they’ll argue back! They are not snowflakes in need of special protection! And if you are so concerned about the feelings of Asians, you should be defending Japan against the lies of the comfort women scam.
Al Johnson
I repeat where are the Chinese leaders of MCP born ?
Sook Ching massacre; is it another Chinese myth of Japanese atrocity ?
Bridge of River Kwai and Burma railway built by POW ?
Who trained MPAJA?
If MCP were so dangerous why were they allow in post war Malaya until 1948?
The Nine dash line was first claimed by Republic of China. This was even recognized by US . US confirmed one China policy when they normalised relation. So Taiwan and surrounding Islands and claims are part of China
Diaoyu Island are part of Taiwan province
Xinjiang and Tibet were part of the Ching Dynasty right up to the end despite shenaningan by the British.
But of course white man speak with forked tongue and revision of history, treaties and fact by white man are frankly not surprising. Look at the American Indians , and Philippine as US colony.
Bee Foo
Please don’t compound your stupidity by being insensitive. You are obviously not Asian since you do not understand this. Amazing that you can let some have good social sense while other are ‘thinly disguised censorship’. China allows criticism and even protest and demonstration. Or are you so out of touch with reality ?
Silversurfer,
First: You avoided rebuttals in your initial post that replied with facts, including the autor that you called a "monkey". It wasn’t for my "attention" that I highlight your dodge, but to point out it is apparently an avoidance that seeds the timeline with emotional vs. fact based posts.
Although it is fun for me to screenshot for future use the debate with someone who self professes no knowledge of the issue except watching emotional appeals on TV, yet in his initial post implied not only that the Comfort Women as sex slave narrative was real, but that it was comparible to genocide.
Adding to Bee Foo’s excellent summation above, I would also add that apologies themselves are not evidence of wrongdoing. As Dr. Aaron Lazar noted apologies are also to (a) normalize a relationship and (b) be an attempt to reduce tension and suffering. In any case they are far from a legal basis in international relationships, especially when treaty law is concerned.
Note that there are no international court cases on this, instead a "trial by agitprop" is conducted with statues, art exhibitions, etc. All devoid of legal due process. This is the difference many times between real criminal incidents, and those that are created or exagerated for political effect.
There is no statute of limitations on war crimes. If the claimants had a case, then they should name names.
Instead we see the same press releases, Japan and the Abe government. Abe wasn’t even alive then. Never "Mr. X who was our guard." or "Mrs. Y who was the brothel mama san that beat me." None of that detail presented to a prosecutor on an international tribunal in Geneva or elsewhere. The reason is obvious (if you go back up and review other posts) that the overwhelming evidence from investigations during the war by the US and Allies, demonstrates that the Comfort Women were contract prostitues and not either kidnapped by the Japanese army (The Koreans were Japanese at the time and in the Japanese Army), or sex slaves (Regulations in the brothels allowed the women to refuse service for any reason, unlike brothels that were not under contract.)
Instead we see media theater and political posturing in an attempt to engender ethnic hatred. Where the author of the article sees the political angle, and it is there to be sure, there is a deeper evil in that these narratives are a time worn way of formenting hatred towards a group that is constructed in a way that reconcilliation can never occur except by violence. Blood libel against the Jewish community is one such recent example. By creating a myth that divides and forments hatred, the Comfort Women groups are not only creating a political divide, but a generational ethnic one as well.
We have too many of those in the world currently, we don’t need any more. Because then it does stand the possibility to be connected to genocide.
Yap C Seng
Again, you argue from ignorance (i.e. lack of facts).
1. You claim: The MCP/Three Stars were "all local Chinese", and then intend to throw out a couple of Malay names to trick readers into thinking that it was a multiethnic organizaiton in nature and not one that was mainland Chinese dominated.
Facts: The MCP/Three Stars and subsiquent rebranding names, had 12 Regiments, and only one (the 10t Regiment) was not majority mainland Chinese. The 19th Regiment was an understrength showcase unit, designed to recruit and placate Malays against charges of Chinese (80% Mainland Communist in the leadership and at times over 70% rank and file) domination. The choice of targets was clear beginning in the "14 days of hell" the Malay villagers endured at the hands of the Mainland Chinese communist led MCP including the destruction of multiple Mosques. British Intelligence assessments including reports by Ching Peng himself note that the MPAJA never engaged in any serious fighting against the Japanese during the war, only after the war was over against the Malay people, "Hanjian" (Race traitors, a euphamism for non communist ethnic Chinese in Malaysia and the mainland) and some Indian ethnic areas.
2. You claim: In an attempt to debate the Chinese aquisition of the following areas (Tibet, Xinjiang, Parts of Northern India, the artificial "Great Wall of Sand" built in international waters, the 9 Dashed Line in international waters, and Phillipine Islands) you quoted the Cairo Declaration and then mentioned Taiwan(Formosa), Manchuria, and the Pescadores.
Facts: Aside from the obvious that none of the areas mentioned in the Cairo declaration cover the areas the CCP has invaded and occupied since 1947, there is also the fact that the Ciaro declaration was for the KMT and NOT the CCP. KMT is now Taiwan, and NOT CCP China.
So you are again presenting incorrect information.
Yap C Seng Your seeming-concern for the special "sensitivities and politesse of Asians" is a thinly disguised form of CCP-style censorship: "don’t criticize China in the presence of Chinese ethnics." I say, let the individual use their own good social sense to judge when and with whom to discuss or avoid any given topic.
Bee Foo
Why is stating that a significant number of his ‘friends’ may be ethnically Chinese means that they would be supporting China ? Usually Aisians try not to offend others and if one knows the ethnicity of another he/she would try to avoid possible sensitive topics. And that include denigrating the country of a person’s forefathers. Of course whether he behaves like the way he posted in Atimes is not known. I assumed he did and cannot stand such boorish behaviour. And frankly I think many Thai Chinese do support China.
Al Johnson
You poor ignorant fool !
Where was Chin Peng born ? Was Abdullah CD a Chinese ? Or Abdul Rashid Maidin ? True there are more Chinese but they were all local Chinese. Who trained them to fight the Japanese ? Why, it was British Military Intelligence ! Wow, are the British Intelligence secretly a communist organisation ?
The Thai are famous for not being colonised in whole of Asia. They don’t suffered the Japanese atrocities is what I am pointing out; hence no Thai comfort women and hence no need to build statutes to honour them since you cannot follow my rebuttal of your point why they don’t build comfort women statues.
And like i ask before , is the movie ‘The Bridge over River Kwai’ based on true events or is it Hollywood fakery ??? Gasp ! Did Japanese military use starving POW (white people !) to build a railway in the jungle.
The territory which you so lightly dismissed are territories recognized at the end of WW2 by the Allies. Here is the text from Declaration of Cairo in 1943 ‘The Three Great Allies are fighting this war to restrain and punish the aggression of Japan. They covet no gain for themselves and have no thought of territorial expansion. It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the first World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. ‘ And for your information the Chinese leader attending then was Generalismo Chiang Kai Shek of kuomintang. What China claimed is Islands and land area which is recognized to be territory of the Republic of China.
GO AND STUDY SOME HISTORY.
Yap C Seng I certainly don’t expect people of one country to support another. It is YOU who wrote above : –" This self glorified American ‘Hero’ wants to single handedly fight the Chinese. He does not even know that 20% of his Thai freinds are ethnically Chinese. " — And in that sentence if is YOU who imply that those ethnic Chinese would support China. Otherwise why even mention their ethnicity? You might be disappointed!
Yap C Seng
Again you continue to argue from ignorance.
The Mainland Chinese dominated Malayan Communist Party led by the criminal Chin Peng, killed more Malaysians during the Emergency than the Japanese during the war. That speaks to the real intent, it was far easier to threaten villagers than soldiers apparently. But again not part of the debate at hand except to illustrate how the neo Fascist Chinese are attempting to highlight other actions (real and imagined) to cover up their own crimes.
You again are incorrect on Thailand. During WWII opening Salvo, the Thais were the only southeast Asians that fought the Japanese. The landings at Ao Manao and Patthani were opposed by the Thais until it became clear that it was better to parlay than rusk more lives. The Japanese maintained large garrisons in Thailand, and staged the Burma Railroad from Thailand.
Again you attempt to pass a fiction as fact.
The claim that China only wants its territory is laughable. "China" is the CCP and has only existed since 1947 as a legitimate government. It invaded Tibet, Xinjiang, and parts of Northern India, and currently occupies them. In addition the "Great Wall of Sand" and 9 Dash line are clearly in violation of UN laws, including the now proven illegal occupation of Phillipine islands.
But again, all this serves only to demonstrate how CCP pr is quite hollow and easily debunked.
George Silversurfer Hello. I’m obviously not Al Johnson, but I’d like offer my thoughts on your excellent question and your insightful observations on this matter. True that China is trying to milk what is mostly a Korean scam and I too have sat through many videos of “sobbing old Korean ladies (and their indignant families) giving very dramatic (Sarah Bernhardt) testimonies. “ So, if Japan did not kidnap and coerce the comfort women working those brothels, why did Japan bother to apologize? It depends on which apology. There were at least 3 official bouts of apologies: (1) the 1993 Kono statement, (2) the individual apologies to each comfort women signed by the prime minister (1995-2007), and (3) the 2015 apology to the comfort women and one billion in monetary support. Some factors as I see it:
a) Timing of the Kono Statement. In the early 1990s, Korean and other women started coming forward with the encouragement of Japanese activist lawyers who hoped to file a class action suit against Japan and South Korean members of Chong Dae Hyup (a powerful organization that supports North Korea and is rabidly anti-Japan. CDH managed to rouse the ROK masses with vicious claims (lies) that Japan’s comfort stations were dens of sex slavery. Around that time (1993) Japan and ROK were trying to negotiate cooperative agreements and both parties were anxious to control the rumors and move forward. The ROK foreign minister suggested Japan make a public apology to placate the ROK masses. Japan agreed to apologize for playing a role in the hardship that SOME comfort women claimed to have suffered under their private brothel owner. But such claims were not verifiable. So, the expedient thing was to apologize to all the women for any hardship suffered, whether true or not.
b) Increased pressure from the ROK Foreign Ministry. Japan was willing to craft an apology for playing a role in hardship suffered by the women at the hands of their brothel boss (even if unverifiable). But as the South Korean masses worked themselves into a frenzy over alleged “sexual slavery,” the ROK Foreign Ministry felt pressured to up-the-ante, and soon Kono was asked to include verbiage to the effect that Japan had coerced the Korean comfort women into prostitution. This was obviously not true, and. Kono refused to comply. BUT as a compromise, last minute he agreed to add the ambiguous phrase: “The Government study has revealed that in many cases they were recruited against their own will, through coaxing, coercion, etc., .“ This was diplomat-speak. Kono did not specify how many is many, and he did not come out and say (truthfully) that any act of coercion was committed by unscrupulous brothel owners (mainly Koreans themselves). This gesture was all for naught because the ROK government and Chong Dae Hyup is still spewing lies in 2018. CDH activists are now saying that Japan’s apology is PROOF that Japan kidnapped and coerced comfort women into the brothels. Faulty logic rules the day! ! Before the end of WW2, the comfort women were proud to contribute to a soldier’s morale, and the IJA was grateful. But after the Allies gave ROK independence, witch-hunts for so-called collaborationists, people dare not say anything remotely pro-Japanese
(c) Why did Japan work so hard from 1995-2007 to locate comfort women and apologize and compensate them individually? This was a natural extension of Japan’s sincere desire to recognize them, give thanks for their service, express regret for any hardships. and compensate them (although they had been well-paid brothel employees while employed). It also reflected the desire of the Japanese public to connect with the former comfort women and offer sympathy and support.
(d) Why did Japan apologize again in 2015? George, I think you hit the nail on the head on this one. Uncle Sam, or rather Uncle Obama put pressure on Japan to enter into the 2015 agreement in order to make peace within the security Alliance. The agreement stated ROK and Japan would not use the comfort woman issue as a political tool against each other. Japan, who was under no illusion that ROK would honor the agreement reluctantly agreed to sign but predicted that ROK would reneg. As promised, Japan sent the 1 billion yen to support the comfort women, but Park did not remove the statues in Seoul or Pusan and did zilch to stop Chong Dae-Hyup’s statue-building project. Uncle Obama also pressured Japan to issue yet another apology to the comfort women in order to “make nice with ROK” so he could take credit for improving working relations between two US Allies. PM Abe just recycled Kono’s 1993 statement. I wish he hadn’t apologized again. It’s one thing to apologize when you yourself see fit to apologize. It is quite another to be coerced to apologize!
PS: I think there would be more Japanese participants if the article and discussion were conducted in Japanese.
Bee Foo Such ignorance only show your stupidity !
No one expect people of one country to support the government of another. When has you ever seen China asking support from Chinese in other countries ? Second, china does NOT control the thoughts and actions of their citizen. Chinese citizens travel to other countries by the millions. If they want they can migrate too. Third, China only want what has always been their territory and none others. It is another country who try to instigate friction and trouble between China and her neighbours. Which country do you think has never stop fighting a war every year since the past 60 years ?
I realise that your education is typically American which is insular and quite self centered to American history and culture. However your judgement is extremely bias toward a American point of view of all events, culture, history etc outside your country i.e. American exceptionalism. Many Chinese are too polite to point out to a vociferous rabidly UScentric Gweilo their admiration for the progress of what China has achieved despite obstacles from former would be colonists. Most just want to get on and enjoy their lives. In fact many American are more open minded and willing to see things from other perspectives and that’s why so many US investor are willing to put their money into China. China is on the verge of overtaking US so this bring the hegemonist and most red neck of them all out of the wood.
You labelled others communist and fascist in the same breathe. It make me wonder if you even know the meaning of these terms. LOL. Thailand had never fallen under the Japanese during the war so they have not suffered the cruelties of Japanese atrocities. Do you even know that ? Do you even know there is a huge local Chinese community in Malaysia who fought the Japanese during the war and at the war’s end want the British to recognise them and return to the jungle when the British refused ? Grow up and open your eyes and learn more of other people’s culture and history.
Al Johnson Sorry Al, Wasnt trying to avoid answering , just havent been able to find time lately to give the attention you believe deserve. But here i am. You sure work hard at this forum..at least in this subject of comfort women anyway which i really don’t know much about it other than catching it on tv occasionally, with sobbing old koreans ladies (and their indignant families) giving very dramatic testimonies. Lets assume your theory being totally plausible and the comfort women is a total scam…..then what the hell has the Japanese Govt been apologising all these years for? It is one thing to apologise for well documented atrocities of systematic and sadistic torturing and killings of unarmed civilians including women and children but it quite another to apologise for services rendered and paid..i doubt very much Tokyo would have capitulated under S. Korean and Chinese pressure…only good old Uncle S holds such sway on Tarosan…Washington might have wanted its two occupied asian nations to get along better thus serving American interest of containing China. And an apology from Tokyo to Seoul would have gone a long way. Still..being forced to apologise on a serious slander can’t be good for the psyche of a nation. But now ,as this article points out,always opportunistic China decides to weaponize this issue, and most important,with dear old uncle as ultimate target! So apologies are out. Kudos for China though for trying to milk what is mostly an Korean scam…very zen like ..extracting something from nothing..good try…still not among the worlds’ best..but give them more time, i am sure they won’t dissapoint. And finally,it is very unfortunate,though understandable, that my colorfull term of "monkey" to describe the author has been construed as racist by you..it was not my intention..really..coming from a multi ethnic family myself i could not possibly afford to be racist. it would not have mattered to me whether the monkey in question is white,black or the now fashionable orange. My puzzlement is that just about every Japan based contribultor to AT is American.,most with diplomatic and military background,dishing out the same self righteous condescending drool that only their narratives matter. Not one local Japanese contributor… too shy? can’t speak american?tired and depressed perhaps from all the forced apologies? or maybe their writings and opinions are not what AT deems fit to publish.
Ming Wang From 1995 to 2007 (12 years) Japan set up an organization to search for and identify former comfort women in Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and maybe some other Asian countries. Finding former comfort women was a difficult task and Japan had to get the cooperation of governments of those countries and set up "Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs)" To each woman Japan offered a written apology for any hardship suffered (while in the employ of any number of private brothels traveling with the Japanese army). Note that Japan was not apologizing for kidnapping and coercing the women because that is not what happened. Japan also offered consolation money and money for health and welfare support. In the case of Indonesia (I think), the MOU was to pay to build health facilities itself, which would service the former comfort women. But I know that the Korean, Taiwanese, and Philipino women were offered a written apology and individual monetary compensation
Yap C Seng
He is absolutely correct. Atrocities like Bataan and Nanking are nothing like the systemic and coordinated efforts to exterminate “undesirable” racial populations across Europe perpetrated by Nazi Germany.
Perfect screen shot of a comment right here!
Exactly as the writer of the article notes, the actual history isn’t really important to the CCP, only as a tool to achieve ethno nationalist dominance. Same old Fascist song, now sung by China.
The real target of all the fake history and denialist vitriol is the US and allies in the region, not ultimately Japan.
Thank you Lee, and I mean this sincerely, for proving the point.
Kimleng Choo,
So you would discount any analasys from people living in the nation’s they are discussing?
Besides, everyone knows its the CCP that pays big money to shills, not the Japanese.
Michael Yon : when will the 5-Eye thugs come clean on their genocide of natives, black slavery and opium trading?