Japanese, Chinese historians fail to bridge differences

TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese and Chinese scholars have failed to narrow their differences over modern history, including the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, during a joint study that aimed to soothe strained ties.

Ten scholars from each country took part in the three-year project to review history from medieval through modern times.

But at a joint press conference held after their fourth and final meeting Thursday, Japanese and Chinese historians clashed over the circumstances of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

China says some 300,000 civilians were massacred in the atrocity when Japanese troops embarked on an orgy of destruction, pillage, rape and murder after taking Nanjing, then China's capital and known as Nanking.

"A very important element of the Nanjing Massacre is its key numbers," said Bu Ping, the head of the Chinese side and director professor of the Institute of Modern History at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Bu said the casualties of the massacre were clearly recorded as more than 300,000 in the Nanjing military tribunal and more than 200,000 in Allied trials held soon after Japan surrendered in 1945.

"I think it is a correct attitude for historians to cite these historical resources," he said.

But the head of the Japanese side, Tokyo University professor Shinichi Kitaoka, disputed Bu's view, saying: "We believe the credibility itself of those resources from the Nanjing and Tokyo tribunals should be questioned."

Kitaoka said the two sides remained divided over many issues, including the Nanjing atrocity, whose legacy continues to strain ties between the two economic giants.

"Did we come to share a common understanding on the matter? The answer is no, as you probably had anticipated," he told reporters.

"The Japanese side acknowledged the fact that there was the massacre and that the basic responsibility was on Japan."

The joint study project started in 2006, when then prime minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to mend ties that worsened under Abe's predecessor Junichiro Koizumi whose visits to a Tokyo war shrine angered China.

The Japanese government has apologised for atrocities during its occupation of China without putting an estimate on the number of victims in Nanjing.