Accusations about
bio-warfare: Why has Japan released documents
showing U.S. biological testing
on Okinawa, while at nearly the same
time, China has published new evidence of
Japanese experiments on
Chinese during WWII?
The News War Over U.S. and Japanese Use of Biological Weapons (Izvestia, Russia)
"Although the fact of U.S. biological weapons testing is hardly
surprising, the question arises - why has Japan released such evidence now? ...
This is how the Japanese are showing their discontent with U.S. behavior. After
Abe's visit to Yasukuni, Washington issued a
statement that made clear they were disappointed with this. ... Meanwhile, Beijing is searching through its
own archives to find ammunition to use against Japan. Thus the Asia-Pacific is
headed into a war of incriminating evidence in which both sides dredge up the
former sins of the other."
Provocation or odd coincidence?: Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe poses in a fighter jet numbered 731 - the number of a secret unit - Unit 731 - which conducted genocidal experiments on human beings during World War II.
Japan has revealed
details of American biological experiments in Okinawa, just as China has released
more documentation of experiments carried out under Japanese occupation.
According
to American documents released on January 12
by Japanese agency Kyodo News, in the
early 1960s, the U.S. tested bacteriological weapons on the islands of the
Okinawa archipelago south of Japan. We are talking about a pathogenic fungus
called rice blast,
which causes lesions on rice
and wheat and is considered one of the most harmful diseases in rice
cultivation. Every year, the fungus destroys rice that could feed 60 million
people. Other documents reveal that testing was also carried out in Taiwan. The
fungus was sprayed from aircraft, after which observers collected data on how
quickly it spread into crops.
Although
the fact of such biological weapons testing is hardly surprising, the question arises
- why has this evidence emerged now? The reason is Japan's strained relations
with China over the Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu Islands to the Chinese). Relations with South Korea
are also quite strained due to Japan Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Dec. 26, 2013
(the shrine was built in memory of fallen soldiers, and includes 14 World War
II Class A war criminals). Washington, Tokyo’s main ally, is obliged to defend
Japan from any aggression according to the terms of the U.S.-Japan
Security Treaty.
"This
is how the Japanese are showing their discontent with U.S. behavior. After Abe's
visit to Yasukuni, Washington issued a statement that
made clear they were disappointed with this step,” says ValeriyKistanov, head of the Center for Japanese Research
and the Far Eastern Institute.
“Furthermore,
America has expressed surprise at several nationalistic statements made by the
Japanese leader - to the displeasure of Tokyo.”
In
particular, according to Kistanov, the U.S. was not
pleased with Abe’s statement questioning the extent to which Japan should be
considered the aggressor in World War II, and that it would be worth
reconsidering the appropriateness of apologies made by Japanese leaders to
neighboring countries that were occupied by Japanese forces during the creation
of the Greater
East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in the first half of the 20th century.
“The
documents on biological weapons testing deal with a very sensitive theme in
Japan, due to their connection with the infamous 'Unit 731,' which engaged in biological
weapons testing in China during World War II. This material has emerged at the
same time as the difficult question of relocating the Futenma Air Station, an
American military base in Okinawa, has come up - and after the legislature of Okinawa
Prefecture passed a resolution calling for the governor to resign [for allowing
the relocation within Okinawa to go through],” says VasiliyMolodyakov, professor at Tokyo's Takushoku
University.
Meanwhile,
Beijing is searching through its own archives to find ammunition to use against
Japan. Thus the Asia-Pacific is headed into a war of incriminating evidence in
which both sides dredge up the former sins of the other.
“It’s
no coincidence that China recently announced it had found several Japanese documents that
support China’s official version of the 1937 Nanking Massacre,” Molodyakov believes.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
Furthermore,
there has recently been information in Chinese media about the use of Chinese
slave labor by Kwantung
Army forces when Japan created the state of Manchukuo in 1932. Xinhua, one of China’s leading news
agencies, has reported that discovering the evidence searching through Japanese
military archives in China's northeast.
Amid
rising tensions with Beijing and Washington, Tokyo politicians have found some
comfort in relations with South Korea. Despite territorial disputes over Dokdo
Island (known as Takeshima in Japanese) and unresolved problems
concerning the “comfort women,” which is a euphemism for Korean women (and
others) who were forced into prostitution to serve the Japanese military during
World War II, almost 60 percent of South Koreans have responded in a survey
that they believe relations with Japan are improving. The survey was carried
out by South Korea's independent Asan Institute for Policy Studies.
