Illustration: Liu Rui/GT
The International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE) officially convened in Tokyo on April 29, 1946. Judges from 11 countries gathered to try, under international law, the war crimes committed by Japanese militarists. This is the largest international trial in human history that nailed, with irrefutable evidence, the Japanese militarists to the pillar of shame forever.
Today, 80 years later, it is imperative that we revisit that part of history – to keep good people awake to the historical lessons and sound the alarm against any attempt in Japan to resurrect militarism.
The trial of justice
The Tokyo Trial was never the “victors’ justice” alleged by the Japanese right-wing elements. The trial delivered just verdicts that brought some solace to the countless lives that perished under the barbaric Japanese militarist aggression.
The Tribunal’s jurisdiction rests on a solid international law foundation.Â
Japan’s Instrument of Surrender explicitly requires “the Emperor, the Japanese Government and their successors to carry out the provisions of the Potsdam Declaration in good faith, and to issue whatever orders and take whatever actions may be required by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers or by any other designated representative of the Allied Powers for the purpose of giving effect to that Declaration.”Â
The Potsdam Declaration demands that “stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, including those who have visited cruelties upon our prisoners.” The IMTFE was established by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in the Far East, acting under the authority of the Allied Powers. Thus, Japan accepted and submitted to the Tribunal’s jurisdiction. The atrocities committed by Japan constitute, beyond any doubt, war crimes under international law.
A specter of militarism desperate to obliterate its crimes
Today, the outcomes of the Tokyo Trial are being eroded. Japanese right-wing elements are repudiating the verdicts and seeking to re-militarize the country.
Right-wing forces in Japan have been persistently trying to distort and reconstruct the nation’s historical memory. Through the continuous revision of history textbooks and the reshaping of cultural narratives, the authorities have glorified – and even rewritten – the history of Japanese aggression, misleading the Japanese public, especially younger generations, about the past. They have even systematically sought to erase the memory of Japan’s war crimes from society.Â
The site of the IMTFE has been rearranged: At the entrance to the exhibition area, racks are stocked with pamphlets for Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, and in the very center of what was originally the judges’ bench, an imperial throne has been placed.
Meanwhile, the memorial tablets of Hideki Tojo and 13 other Class-A war criminals are enshrined at the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently sent ritual offerings in the name of the prime minister, and a cabinet minister along with as many as 126 Diet members paid personal visits to the shrine.Â
The Yasukuni Shrine is a spiritual tool and symbol of the wars of aggression launched by Japanese militarism. This “ghost-worship” by Japanese politicians exposes their persistent refusal to acknowledge the history of aggression and their ambition to overturn the verdicts of its war crimes.
Remembering history
History is the best textbook, and the trends on Japan’s right warrant the vigilance of all peoples around the world.
Last November, Takaichi openly claimed that a contingency in Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, under which Japan may invoke the “right of collective self-defense” – a flagrant intervention in China’s internal affairs. The world has not forgotten that Japanese militarists had used that very pretext to invade China and other Asian nations and to attack Pearl Harbor.
Eighty years have passed since the Tokyo Trial, but the historical legacy they left behind deserves to be cherished all the more. Remembering history is not about teaching hatred; it is about warning people today not to repeat past mistakes and to safeguard the hard-won peace we now enjoy.
The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Xinhua News, Global Times, China Daily, CGTN. He can be reached at xinping604@gmail.com
