Chinese attorney Pu Zhiqiang makes an important point about the recent row between China and Japan (supposedly over Japanese whitewashing of WWII history): China's own dirty record. He remembers the Tiananmen Square massacre and the millions who died under Mao.
We Chinese are outraged by Japan's World War II crimes — the forcing of Chinese into sexual slavery as "comfort women," the 1937 massacre of unarmed civilians in Nanjing, and the experiments in biological warfare. Our indignation redoubles when the Japanese distort or paper over this record in their museums and their textbooks. But if we look honestly at ourselves — at the massacres and invasions through Chinese history, or just at the suppression of protesters in recent times — and if we compare the behavior of the Japanese military with that of our own soldiers, not much distinguishes China from Japan.Posted by Alan at May 1, 2005 10:58 AMBefore we in China decide we are superior to Japan, we must address our own double standards.