중국 정부는 5일 일본 공영방송 NHK의 경영 위원이 난징(南京)대학살을 부정하는 발언을 한 데 대해 "인류 양심에 대한 도전"이 라고 성토했다.
훙레이(洪磊) 중국 외교부 대변인은 이날 기자와의 문답 형식의 논평에서 "난징 대학살은 일본 군국주의가 중국을 침략한 전쟁 중에 저지른 잔학한 범죄행위"라면서 "명백한 증거로서 완전히 확정된 안건이자 국제사회가 이미 정설을 갖고 있는 사안 "이라고 규정했다.
훙 대변인은 이어 "일본 국내 극소수 인사들의 이런 역사를 말살•은폐•왜곡하려는 시도는 국제정의와 인류양심에 대한 공개적인 도전"이라고 비판했다.
그는 이어 "역사의 수레바퀴를 거꾸로 돌리려는 일본 지도자들의 잘못된 행위와 도 일맥상통하는 것으로서 마땅히 국제사회가 큰 경계심을 가져야 한다"고 말했다.
그는 "우리는 일본이 침략의 역사를 직시하고 깊이 반성할 것을 엄정하게 촉구한 다"면서 "책임 있는 자세로 역사가 남겨놓은 문제를 적절하게 처리하고 실제적인 행 동으로 아시아 이웃국가와 국제사회의 신뢰를 얻을 것을 촉구한다"고 강조했다.
일본 아사히신문 보도에 따르면 NHK 경영위원인 작가 햐쿠타 나오키(百田尙樹)씨는 3일 도쿄 신주쿠(新宿)역 근처에서 선거 지원연설을 통해 "세계 각국은 난징대 학살을 무시했다"며 "왜냐하면 그런 일은 없었기 때문"이라고 주장해 중국의 강한 반발을 사고 있다.
앞서 모미이 가쓰토(인<米+刃>井勝人) NHK 신임 회장도 지난달 25일 취임 기자 회견을 통해 "한국뿐만 아니라 전쟁지역에는 위안부가 있었으며 독일, 프랑스 등에 도 있었다"고 주장, 파문을 일으킨 바 있다.
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China furious at Japan NHK manager's Nanjing denial
China reacted furiously on Wednesday to the denial of the Nanjing massacre by a senior manager at Japan's national broadcaster, calling his remarks "a barefaced challenge to international justice".
Naoki Hyakuta dismissed as "propaganda" the accounts of the 1937-8 orgy of murder and rape by Japanese troops as they rampaged through China, in comments made during a stump speech for a right-wing candidate in Sunday's election for Tokyo governor.
In a stinging response Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei urged Japan to "face up" to its history.
Hyakuta's comments were "a barefaced challenge to international justice and human conscience," he said, according to state news agency Xinhua.
"The Nanjing massacre is a brutal crime committed by the Japanese militarism during their invasion of China, which has irrefutable evidence. The international community already had a verdict about it," Hong added.
Right-wing novelist Hyakuta is one of a 12-strong management committee at the publicly-funded Japanese broadcaster.
His comments came after the newly-appointed head of NHK sparked anger with comments on Japan's wartime system of sex slavery and said the station's output should reflect government policy.
Both sets of remarks are likely to fuel fears among some commentators that NHK, one of the world's biggest broadcasters, is falling meekly into line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aggressively nationalist agenda.
"Countries in the world ignored the propaganda produced (by then-Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek)... that Japan's troops carried out a massacre in Nanjing. Why? There was no such thing," Hyakuta said during a speech on Sunday, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
"During the war there probably were atrocities committed by some members of the military, but that is not limited to the Japanese. There is no reason to teach these things to children in compulsory education," he said.
The "Rape of Nanking" is an exceptionally sensitive issue in Japan's often-fraught relations with China, which says Tokyo has failed to atone for one of the most brutal episodes of its occupation.
China says 300,000 civilians and soldiers died in a spree of killing, rape and destruction in the six weeks after the Japanese military entered the then-capital on December 13, 1937.
Some foreign academics put the number of deaths lower, including China historian Jonathan Spence who estimates that 42,000 soldiers and citizens were killed and 20,000 women raped, many of whom later died.
No respected mainstream historians dispute the massacre.
Japan's government said Tuesday that Hyakuta had done nothing wrong.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that Hyakuta was entitled to his opinions.
"I'm aware of the reports, but I've learnt (expressing personal views) doesn't violate the Broadcast Law. The government declines to comment on the issue," he told reporters. (AFP)
