On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broadcast to all of Japan accepting the Potsdam Proclamation and imposing an unconditional surrender. At this point, the Second World War ended in a great victory for the people of the whole world, and the anti-fascist camp in the world, including China, won the final victory.
After the war, the defeated countries should pay war reparations to the victorious countries, which is a historical practice, and World War II was no exception. Moreover, in accordance with the requirements of international law, a State injured by aggression has the right to demand war compensation from the aggressor State, which is the responsibility of the aggressor State. After the end of World War II, according to international law, 13 countries, including China, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and Australia, had the right to claim war reparations from Japan.
After Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, the Allies, led by Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, established a compensation commission to negotiate Japan's compensation. On November 5, 1945, the Compensation Commission unanimously agreed that in order to deprive Japan of its industrial ability to wage war and prevent the revival of Japanese militarism, it decided to increase Japan's war reparations.
During World War II, China was the country most seriously invaded by Japan, with 35 million casualties, direct economic losses of 100 billion US dollars, indirect economic losses of more than 500 billion US dollars, countless families and wives were separated, families were destroyed, and countless ancient cities were burned by war. There are countless mass graves, thousands of people pits, and hundreds of people across the country, especially in the first four years of the war, that is, before the outbreak of the Pacific War, China struggled to support itself in a lone battle and repelled one Japanese attack after another.
The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression brought a heavy disaster to 40,000,000 compatriots in China, and the scale and scope of this war were so great, the sacrifices were fierce, and the suffering was so deep.
It is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese nation for thousands of years. But what people did not expect was that after the end of World War II, the Kuomintang government headed by Chiang Kai-shek gave up demanding war reparations from Japan.
After the end of World War II, Japan paid reparations to Asian countries, paying $200 million to Burma, $800 million to Indonesia, $800 million to the Philippines, $39 million to Vietnam, $2.78 million to Laos, $4.17 million to Cambodia, and $300 million to South Korea (South Korea).
Even Thailand, which mixed with Japan at the beginning of the war, finally fought a rake and demanded 15 billion yen in war reparations from Japan.
On August 15, 1945, after Japan's surrender, Chiang Kai-shek, as the leader of the resistance to Japanese aggression, was naturally extremely excited about victory. However, Chiang Kai-shek showed considerable restraint in his public remarks on the handling of the issue of Japan, saying in his radio speech entitled "Letter to the Military and The People of the Whole Country On the Victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression," which involves people from all over the world: "
We are only enemies of the militaristic Japanese Government, not the Japanese people, and China and Japan do not need to repay each other for their wrongs; if we retaliate against the enemy for their atrocities, they will never end, and this is by no means the aim of our benevolent and righteous teachers
。 ”
At that time, after Japan learned of Chiang Kai-shek's declaration, various newspapers published it on the front page. The Japanese, especially the Japanese prisoners of war in China, were well aware of the heinous crimes they had committed in China, so they were afraid of being liquidated by the Chinese after surrendering.
In addition, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly demanded from the generals and officials on the front line that they should repay their grievances with virtue and not embarrass the Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese expatriates in China. At the end of World War II, there were 2.14 million Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese expatriates in China (excluding tohoku). To this end, China has developed a detailed repatriation plan.
When repatriating Japanese prisoners of war, China's tolerance surprised not only its own people, but even the Japanese, who stipulated that in addition to explosives, sabers, cameras, telescopes, optical instruments, antiques and other items, every Japanese expatriate and Japanese prisoner of war could carry one blanket, three sets of winter clothes, one coat, three pairs of leather boots, three pairs of shorts, and three shirts.
In addition, officers can also carry 1,000 yuan, soldiers can carry 200 yuan, and each expatriate can carry 1,000 yuan as a settlement fee when returning home.
China's repatriation of Japanese prisoners of war was meticulous, and all Japanese prisoners of war and expatriates were vaccinated against typhoid fever before boarding the ship, and the ships were disinfected. In order to ensure the safe return of wounded Japanese prisoners of war, the Chinese government specially organized more than 12,000 stretchers and more than 20,000 escort teams to provide special escorts to wounded and sick Japanese prisoners and Japanese overseas Chinese.
Okubo Chuanzo, who was serving as the Special Committee for evacuation measures in the Sea of Japan at the time, found a very interesting phenomenon: that is, the Japanese prisoners of war who returned from the Soviet occupation zone and from Southeast Asia returned naked, many of them returned wearing only a pair of pants, and many people died of illness on the way back;
But returning from Chinese mainland, whether it is food, clothes, are very plentiful, and even many people have brought cash, medicines, and large bags back to Japan, which can be said to be full of loads, these Japanese prisoners of war do not look like they fled back to China after defeat, but rather like a trip abroad to shop.
At the end of World War II, the situation in Japan was chaotic and materials were extremely scarce, and no one cared about these Japanese veterans who returned to Japan. Therefore, the Japanese prisoners of war who returned from the Soviet occupation zone and the Korean Peninsula had a miserable life later, while the Japanese prisoners of war who returned from China, because they brought a certain amount of living materials, lived no worse than the people who had been staying in China.
The Hague International Convention of 1907 states: "Belligerents may use the labour force of prisoners of war to restore production in accordance with their capabilities." "At that time, China suffered heavy losses during The Second World War, railways, bridges, highways, factories and other infrastructure suffered serious damage, and many lands were deserted due to years of war, and a large number of laborers were urgently needed, but China did not use these ready-made prisoners of war as labor. In stark contrast, the Soviet Union pulled more than 600,000 Japanese Kwantung Army prisoners of war to Siberia for production activities, and Australia also killed a large number of Japanese prisoners of war in order to avenge it.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek's policy of "repaying grievances with virtue" reserved a large number of young and middle-aged laborers for Japan, which was the greatest force for Japan to emerge from weakness and chaos, which was also the basis for Japan's rapid development and had a profound impact on Japan's later development.
In 1950, shortly after Chiang Kai-shek led the remnants of the Kuomintang to retreat to Taiwan, Emperor Hirohito of Japan said to the first "ambassador" sent to Taiwan, Yoshizawa Kenkichi: "When the Japanese army was defeated in the Chinese mainland, because President Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to his subordinates to repay their grievances with virtue, I cannot forget the fact that millions of soldiers and civilians returned home safely. ”
There are many shrines in Japan, the most famous of which is the Yasukuni Shrine, and many Japanese war criminals during World War II were enshrined in the Yasukuni Shrine. However, after the end of World War II, in order to thank Chiang Kai-shek for "repaying grievances with virtue", the Japanese also built a "Chiang Kai-shek Shrine" in Yukida Town, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. The meaning of the shrine inscription is that without Chiang Kai-shek's tolerance and generosity, there would be no safe return of 2 million Japanese prisoners of war and expatriates.