"Our law-savvy defense lawyers say there is no war between China and Japan because Japan has never declared war on China ... However, from September 18, 1931 onwards, Japan took a war action in China, killing millions of Chinese, including soldiers and civilians... If this is not a war, I would like to ask, what else is a war? This was the stern opening remarks made by Chinese prosecutor Xiang Tetsuma at the Tokyo Trial Court on May 14, 1946.
Read the indictment to Tetsuma at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
On May 3, 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which was attended by 11 countries, including the United States, China, britain and the Soviet Union, held a trial in Tokyo, Japan, and tried 28 Japanese Class A war criminals. The international trial, known as the "Tokyo Trial," lasted 924 days, with 20 million words and a 1,446-page verdict, was the largest international trial in human history, upholding international justice and safeguarding human dignity.
In that year, a Chinese delegation headed by procurator Xiang Zheliang, judge Mei Ruxuan, and chief adviser Ni Zhengxuan went to Japan to participate in the Tokyo trial, despite all difficulties, and collected evidence, and finally sent 7 Japanese Class A war criminals to the gallows. Among them, Xiang Zheli participated in all the trials as a Chinese procurator and made a total of 20 court speeches.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo trial, and this reporter recently conducted an exclusive interview with Xiang Longwan, son of Tetsuma and honorary director of the Tokyo Trial Research Center of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
Talking about fathers:
In my heart, I always have the ambition of "serving the country with my body"
Nanfang Daily: After the victory in World War II, the Allies announced the establishment of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. How was it formed?
To Longwan: In October 1945, Wei Daoming, then ambassador of the Nationalist government to the United States, sent a telegram to China, conveying to the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces that "he would request that countries recommend appropriate personnel for their selection." Therefore, the US Government specially invites China, britain, and the Soviet Union to push five people each, and Three each from Aukan (i.e., Canada) to Fahwe new Zealand (i.e., New Zealand). At that time, just after the end of World War II, the countries were in ruins and the manpower was tight, and finally it was decided that each country should first send 1 judge and 1 prosecutor to form a court to hold a trial as soon as possible. Both my father and Mei Ruxuan had a deep foundation in Sinology, and both studied law at prestigious American universities. They were familiar with the common law system and could communicate in English without obstacles, so they were appointed as prosecutors and judges of the International Tribunal on behalf of China.
Group photo of The Chinese procuratorial team (Photo by Gao Wenbin)
Nanfang Daily: After your father was appointed as a Chinese procurator, what difficulties did he encounter in his work?
Xiang Longwan: My father came to Tokyo on February 7, 1946. When he arrived, he found that due to the relatively hasty preparation time and the deliberate destruction of evidence during the Japanese invasion and after the defeat, he wanted to prosecute Japanese war criminals for lack of "ammunition". Therefore, on the one hand, he sent a telegram to various departments in China and Chinese embassies and consulates abroad to provide relevant information, and on the other hand, he returned to China to actively collect it.
It is worth mentioning that the Tokyo trial was tried under common law. Common law is two systems, one is the prosecutor system and the other is the judge system. The role of the prosecutor is to find evidence and witnesses and prosecute the accused on that basis; the accused and his defence counsel have the same right to seek documentary and personal evidence for their defence; and the judge is neutral, equivalent to the magistrate, whose role is to take the evidence provided by the prosecution and the defence and to make sentencing and sentencing on this basis. The first stage of the Tokyo Trials is the prosecution stage and the second stage is the sentencing stage of the judges. At the prosecution stage, if the prosecutors of various countries fail to fully obtain the material for war crimes, the subsequent sentencing stage may lead to light sentences or even acquittals. Therefore, the prosecution stage alone took nearly 2 years.
Nanfang Daily: Do you have any direct impressions of your father's participation in the Tokyo trial?
Xiang Longwan: I was only 5 years old when the Tokyo trial began, and I was only 7 years old when the trial closed. At that time, I only knew that my father was coming and going in a hurry, and I didn't understand what he was doing. What is more impressive is that when I went to sleep at night, my father stayed up late and typed with a "Remington" mechanical English typewriter. Now I know that at that time, the Chinese procuratorial team was tightly staffed, and he had to translate the Chinese materials he collected into English and print them into text, prepare for court speeches, and so on.
The typewriter that Xiang Zhe used
Nanfang Daily: How do you evaluate your father?
Xiang Longwan: Their generation, including my father, Mr. Mei Ruxuan, Mr. Ni Zhengyi, etc., was born in the "trough period" of the history of China's poverty and weakness, and the pursuit of national independence and national liberation by benevolent people. Most of them take personal honor and disgrace very lightly, and always have the ambition of "repaying the country with their own body" in their hearts. Whether they choose industry to save the country, science to save the country, or law to save the country, education to save the country, etc., although the routes are different, they all hope to save the country and save the people.
On the Tokyo Trial:
The Chinese procuratorial team has contributed in 7 aspects
Nanfang Daily: According to your research and research, what important contributions did the Chinese procuratorial team headed by your father make to the smooth running of the Tokyo trial?
Xiang Longwan: My father once said in a telegram sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: "I was ordered to come here to handle procuratorial affairs, and there were few people in the matter, and I did not dare to slack off when I was in charge of the affairs of the people. "They really don't dare to slack off and work around the clock. In my opinion, the main contributions of the Chinese procuratorial team include: proposing that Japan's war crimes were counted since the "Huanggutun Incident" in 1928, determining the list of defendants, drafting indictments, inviting a large number of witnesses, providing a large amount of physical evidence, court debate and cross-examination are reasonable and powerful, and timely transmission of information and collation and collection of documents.
For example, in response to the question "When did the crimes of Japanese war criminals begin to be counted?" Question, the British and American representatives initially proposed that the starting date should be calculated from the "Pearl Harbor Incident" in December 1941, because the war only expanded to the Asia-Pacific region after the "Pearl Harbor Incident", and Britain and the United States officially declared war on Japan. However, the Chinese side believes that it should be counted from the "Huanggutun Incident" in 1928, because the "Huanggutun Incident" was the prelude to the "918 Incident", which was planned and implemented by a group of fanatical militarists of the Japanese Kwantung Army. In addition, long before the outbreak of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army carried out atrocities in China, including the Nanjing Massacre. If the crimes were counted from 1941, wouldn't the Nanjing Massacre not be counted? The Chinese prosecutor argued on the basis of reason, and finally got the unanimous consent of the Allied International Prosecutor's Office.
Another example is the question "Who should be classified as war criminals?" On this issue, at that time, China proposed two lists of war criminals, a total of 44. Of the 28 defendants in the Tokyo trial, 15, or 53.6 percent, were directly nominated by China. In the case of "drafting an indictment," my father recalled earlier: "The indictment was filed with the court on April 29, 1946, listing fifty-five counts, of which forty-four were related to the invasion of China. In order to present and prove these crimes, my father and others went to great lengths to find a large number of human and physical evidence.
At the scene of the trial of Hideki Tojo, Xiang Zhe (2nd from left) and Ni Zhengyi (1st from right) are in the prosecutor's seat
Nanfang Daily: How do you evaluate the significance of the Tokyo trial?
Xiang Longwan: Here I borrow a point that my father once said: "Since the Opium War in 1840, in the countless wars of aggression waged by the Western powers, only the War of Resistance Against Japan was China's first real victory; only the Tokyo Trial enabled the Chinese people to raise their eyebrows and breathe a sigh of relief." ”
In addition, from the perspective of international law, experts recognize that the three principles pioneered by the Tokyo trials and the Nuremberg trials have become the source of modern international criminal law. In the first article, the initiation of a war of aggression is a crime and must be punished by law; the second article, whether war is declared or not, whether against the people abroad or against the people at home, crimes against humanity are crimes and must be punished by law; and third, individuals who plan or commit crimes of aggression and anti-humanity are also punished by law.
Nanfang Daily: Some Japanese right-wingers have questioned the Tokyo trial as a "winner's judgment." What do you think?
Xiang Longwan: The Tokyo trials and the Nuremberg trials embodied the "victory of the righteous." When we look at the records of the Tokyo trial, both prosecutors, judges, and even the defense lawyers arranged by the Allies for Japanese war criminals are very rigorous and have the opportunity to fully express themselves. For example, Mr. Mei Ruxuan, as a Chinese, he deeply resented the evil acts of the Japanese invasion in China, but as a judge, he must strictly observe neutrality. Therefore, although he has also felt pain and contradictions, he has always adhered to professional ethics. In addition, if you look at it, prosecutors rarely have emotional criticism in their speeches, and they all speak with facts and evidence. All this made the judgment of the Tokyo trial more convincing and stand the test of history.
A family portrait of Mr. and Mrs. Tetsumi with their three children in 1946
Talking about the future:
Future generations must never repeat the tragedy of history
Nanfang Daily: You are a professor in the Department of Mathematics, why did you think of digging deeper into this history?
Xiang Longwan: I am 49 years old with my father, and he rarely told me about the Tokyo Trial before he died, and I only knew a little bit about my mother's memoirs after my father's death. Later, many domestic and foreign media came to interview me, and I felt more and more that I knew very little about my father's experience in those years, and at the same time, I found that the study of the Tokyo Trial at that time in China was far from enough, so I felt that it was necessary to understand and excavate this history. In 2006, when I retired, I began to consult a large number of materials at my own expense in libraries and archives at home and abroad.
In March 2010, based on the information I collected, I compiled the book "Tokyo Trial: Chinese Prosecutor Xiang Zhemao". To be honest, from my personal point of view, I feel that I have completed the "task" after the book was published. First, I don't specialize in history, and I feel that it is impossible to study it in depth, and second, I don't have so much energy and financial resources. Coincidentally, the book was highly affirmed by the relevant leaders, and the relevant departments were instructed to vigorously support the study of the Tokyo trial. In 2011, on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Tokyo Trials, Shanghai Jiaotong University established the Tokyo Trial Research Center. In the past 10 years, China's research on the Tokyo trial has reached a great level.
Xiang Longwan and his wife Jiang Fu searched the United States for historical materials related to the Tokyo trial
Nanfang Daily: In recent years, many right-wing elements in Japan have tried to deny or beautify the history of aggression, and some Japanese politicians have openly visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines 14 World War II Class A war criminals.
Xiang Longwan: Japan's propaganda methods are very powerful. There is a "Yushikan" at the Yasukuni Shrine, which is equivalent to a war memorial hall, which displays and publicizes Japan's military "feats" since Emperor Meiji, and is a very serious distortion of history. Through a large number of pictures, objects, texts, documentaries, etc., the crime of Aggression against Japan was reversed in black and white, and even a rake was beaten upside down. The two-and-a-half-year-long Tokyo trial was not mentioned. There are many Japanese students in the "Tour Hall" to visit, although there is no docent, but these well-designed and arranged exhibitions quietly "brainwash" people.
This, in turn, enlightens me that as a victorious country, we should base ourselves on the real history and let more People understand this history through various ways. We must have a basis for what we say and what we say, and in particular, we must not have a "hard wound" in content, and we must not be as quick as "angry youth." Over the past 10 years, I have participated in editing the English version and Chinese the full translation of the Trial Records of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, compiled three books on the Tokyo Trial, and together with my young colleagues, opened a general education course "Tokyo Trial" at Shanghai Jiaotong University, hoping to make a little effort for more people, especially young people, to understand this history that should not be forgotten.
Nanfang Daily: What message do you have for contemporary young people?
Xiang Longwan: Don't forget the past, the teacher of the future. I would like to borrow a sentence that Mei Ruxuan once wrote in her diary: "I have no intention of becoming a revanchist, but if we forget history, it will inevitably lead to greater disasters." "In 2016, Mr. Gao Wenbin, who personally experienced the Tokyo trial, called for the establishment of the Tokyo Trial Memorial Hall, and I joined judge Mei Ruxuan and the descendants of Chief Adviser Ni Zhengxuan to launch an initiative with him. The establishment of the memorial hall is by no means an encouragement to hate the Japanese, but a hope to educate future generations to recognize the truth, including the Japanese people, to remember the lessons of history, and never to repeat the tragedy of history.
[Reporter] Qi Lei
【Intern】 Zhang Yumin
Images for this article are courtesy of LonWan
【Author】 Qi Lei
Defense Lookout
Source: South+ - Create more value