China publishes collection of Japanese war criminal's confessions

BEIJING -- A collection of photocopied confessions by Japanese World War II criminals has been published.

The release event for the first part was held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing on Wednesday.

The first part contains 327 confessions in 50 volumes, while the second part, with 70 volumes, is scheduled to be released by the end of year, according to the Central Archives, which compiled the collection.

It is the first time most of the archives have been disclosed, according to the Central Archives.

The confessions were collected from a total of 1,109 made by Japanese war criminals who were detained in Fushun in northeast China's Liaoning Province and Taiyuan in north China's Shanxi Province after the founding of the New China on Oct 1, 1949.

Photos of the Japanese war criminals and abstracts in both Chinese and English are provided in the collection, in addition to photocopies of the original documents.

The collection reveals the atrocities committed by Japanese troops, including the Nanjing Massacre, the slaughter of war prisoners and murder of civilians.

Li Minghua, head of the State Archives Administration (SAA) and the Central Archives, said the collection was significant since this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.

The collection was an effort to counterattack the words and actions by the Japan's right-wing forces and remind people of the importance of cherishing peace in addition to revealing the crimes committed by the Japanese troops in their aggression, according to Li.