China has urged Japan to properly deal with the remaining issues concerning women who were forced into sexual slavery by the imperial Japanese army, or “comfort women.”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning made the remarks at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Friday.
Japan is one of 13 countries having their human rights record examined by peers at the 42nd session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Country-Specific Human Rights Reviews in Geneva, Switzerland.
A Chinese delegate has reiterated China’s condemnation of Japan’s downplaying of historical guilt on issues such as “comfort women,” Mao said.
“The Japan government continues to cover up its atrocities of forced conscription of comfort women in the latest report to the working group despite opposition from neighboring countries, which has led to protests from the Philippine comfort women advocacy groups and comfort women survivors,” Mao said.
The forced recruitment of women was “a serious crime against humanity committed by Japanese militarism” and a historical fact with hard evidence that could not be denied, she said.
“China urges Japan to reflect on the history of aggression, properly deal with the issue of forced conscription of comfort women and other historical leaving problems honestly, and take practical action to give due account to its Asian neighbors and the international community,” the ministry spokesperson said.
(Compiled by Zhao Yang)