NEW DELHI: On December 13, Chinese marked the 80th anniversary of the Nanking massacre. This day is considered as a very unfortunate knot between the relationship of Japan and China.
The event was attended by the Chinese President Xi Jinping in Nanking city. It was the second time that Chinese president attended the event, since first national memorial day for the massacre in 2014. But surprisingly, Jinping didn't deliver any speech.
Generally, Jinping leaves no chance to address his people on such occasions. But this time, he refrained himself from making any comment. This act may be due to the ongoing cordial relationship between China and Japan, which maybe get into turmoil due to any political
statement.
The Japanese supreme, Shinzo Abe, and Xi Jinping met last month on the sidelines of a regional summit in Vietnam. Both of them greeted each other well and looked comfortable exchanging a few words.
It was the second Sino-Japanese War, which started in 1937 and resulted in a large number of deaths at the hands of the Japanese army. The people involved in the massacre included Chinese war prisoners and civilians.
Chinese war prisoners and civilians felt the burnt of massacre
The Japanese impounded the Nanking city on December 13. 1937 and the rest is history. The atrocities of the Japanese army, accompanied by brutal methods led to large-scale uncalled death.
As far as the death toll of the Nanking Massacre incident is concerned, both the nations share a different point of views. Chinese historians claim the figure of more than three lakhs. Meanwhile, Japan counts the number ranging from few thousands to around two lakhs. But some conservative Japanese scholars even deny the very act of massacre even.
With the agenda of peace and regional balance in mind, both the nation will try to bury the past ghost of Nanking city in the coming years. Such incidents are really very hard to fade away from the memories of people of any nation.
To aim for the global presence, China will definitely try to mend its relations with its neighbors and by digging into such historical events will not help towards it.