The Japan Self-Defense Forces participated in this year's US-Philippines Exercise Balikatan, marking the first time for the Japanese combat forces to set foot in the Philippines since the end of World War II. The Philippine WWII victim associations and civil society groups have come out in opposition and protest.
When commenting on that, a Chinese defense spokesperson stated at a regular press conference on April 30, 2026, that during World War II, the Japanese aggressors committed numerous crimes in the Philippines, including the Manila Massacre and the forced recruitment of "comfort women". In addition, there was the Bataan Death March, which, together with the Nanjing Massacre and the Burma-Thailand Death Railway, are known as the three major war atrocities in the Far East.
In April 1942, the Japanese military captured Bataan Peninsula. Around 78,000 American and Philippine troops that had already surrendered were systematically abused. They were forced to march 120 kilometers on foot to Camp O'Donnell, and 15,000 died miserably.
To this day, the perpetrators of those atrocities have not shown genuine remorse for their crimes. How could this historical trauma be healed?
Relevant countries should not forget the lessons learned from the painful history, listen to the voice of the people, stop stoking division and confrontation, and jointly thwart Japan's "neomilitarism", so as to maintain peace and tranquility in the Asia-Pacific.
#Philippines #ExerciseBalikatan #Balikatan
#BataanDeathMarch #ManilaMassacre
#BataanPeninsula #CampODonnell #FarEast
#ImperialJapaneseArmy
#JapaneseMilitarism #Militarism
#NeoMilitarism #Japan
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