China welcomes Japanese veteran's testimony

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian commended on Tuesday the courage of a former member of the Japanese unit for bacterial warfare during World War II, for revealing the historical truth and facing it squarely.

Lin made the remarks after it was reported that Hideo Shimizu, a former member of the Japanese army Unit 731, had visited the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army and the former site of Unit 731 in Harbin, Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, where he testified about the crimes the united committed.

Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during World War II.

Unit 731 used at least 3,000 people in human experiments, while more than 300,000 people in China were killed by Japan's biological weapons.

Shimizu is thought to be the only living veteran of Unit 731 willing to publicly expose the crimes of the Japanese unit.

"During World War II, in blatant violation of international law, the Japanese army launched horrendous bacterial warfare against the Chinese people and conducted gruesome human experimentation, which were heinous crimes against humanity," Lin said in remarks released on the ministry's official website.

There is solid proof for the bacterial warfare launched by Japanese militarists and there is no room for denial, he said.

Lin responded by saying: "We commend the courage of Mr Hideo Shimizu who revealed the historical truth and faced it squarely."

The spokesman said Japan needs to heed the call for justice from home and abroad and face up to and reflect upon its history of militarist aggression.

He also urged Japan to respect the feelings of people from Asian victim countries, including China, draw lessons from history, get rid of the specter of militarism that still haunts it, and never let history repeat itself.