Time for Japan to tell China the truth » Capital News

On 7 July 2025, China marked the anniversary of one of its most significant World War II battles, the Hundred-Regiment Campaign, through a solemn public commemoration in Shanxi Province. The campaign, waged in 1940, saw China’s military and civilians unite in resistance against imperial Japanese occupation. It was a key moment in what China refers to as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a chapter of history that continues to shape national memory and foreign relations in East Asia.

This year’s commemoration, like those before it, was not simply about reliving the past. It was a deliberate reaffirmation of historical truth in an age where that truth is under increasing threat. For China, remembering the sacrifice and unity of that era is both a source of pride and a political imperative. For Japan, however, it is an uncomfortable reminder of a past it has yet to confront fully, or at all.

More than 80 years after the horrors of Japan’s military campaigns across Asia, key questions remain unanswered.Where is the official apology? Why are war crimes still being downplayed or denied? Why are history textbooks in Japan increasingly evasive about the atrocities committed by the Imperial Army?

Unlike Germany, which has made a global example of honest self-reflection and reconciliation after Nazism, Japan has taken the opposite path. It has normalised silence. The Nanjing Massacre, the use of “comfort women” in military brothels, and the forced conscription of Chinese and Korean labourers are still treated by some Japanese officials and scholars as either disputed or exaggerated. Annual visits by politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine where several convicted war criminals are enshrined only deepen the wounds.

China’s resistance commemorations, then, are not merely acts of patriotism. They are also direct challenges to revisionist currents in Japan and its strategic allies who prefer to either overlook or whitewash wartime history. These commemorations are statements of memory, yes, but also of resistance to denialism.

What’s more, they must be understood in the context of today’s geopolitical climate. Japan has increasingly aligned itself with the United States and other Western powers seeking to contain China’s rise. This includes military build-up under the pretext of deterrence, deepening defence pacts like the Quad, and economic manoeuvres aimed at isolating China from global value chains. While such strategies are often framed as defensive, they carry strong undertones of Cold War-era bloc politics, in which historical accountability takes a back seat to strategic posturing.

For African countries like Kenya, these developments are instructive. Having also suffered under colonial rule, we understand that the past does not simply fade; it either festers or heals. But healing is impossible without honesty. As we engage with global partners, from the West to the East, we must remember that nations unwilling to confront their past are often unreliable in shaping a just future.

Japan’s economic diplomacy in Africa has often been welcomed, and rightly so. But economic cooperation cannot serve as a substitute for moral responsibility. For partnerships to be meaningful and enduring, they must be rooted in mutual respect, and respect begins with truth. One cannot erase or ignore the pain inflicted on others and then claim a moral high ground in today’s global conversations.

At a time when the world faces rising tensions, economic uncertainty, and increasing historical amnesia, China’s insistence on remembering its anti-imperialist struggle is a clarion call. It speaks not only to its own people but to all post-colonial societies that understand how power operates, both then and now. In remembering, China reinforces a narrative that values sovereignty, unity and the right to resist domination. These are values that many in the Global South, including Kenya, continue to fight for in subtler, but no less important ways.

The act of remembrance is not antagonistic. It is necessary. It is how nations assert agency in the face of historical erasure. It is how dignity is restored not just to the dead, but to the living who carry their legacy. Japan does not need to fear these commemorations. It needs to listen to them. There is still time to chart a new course grounded in acknowledgment, apology and accountability. That is the real path to reconciliation not only with China, but with history itself.

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