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Chinese World War II Air Raid Victims Demand Compensation from Japan
The AFP
July 19, 2004
Bejing: Hundreds of elderly Chinese who survived Japanese aerial bombardment during World War II are now demanding compensation from Japan, state media reported Monday.
The survivors, residents of wartime capital Chongqing in southwest China, have teamed up with a group of lawyers in a bid to collect evidence to support their case, the China Daily said.
Most of the evidence will be in the form of oral histories from people old enough to remember the war years, when the city experienced more than 200 Japanese air raids, according to the paper.
About 11,900 Chongqing residents were killed in the raids, while 14,700 were injured, and 17,000 buildings were destroyed, the paper said.
It could be expensive for Japan to pay compensation, as it is estimated a total of 50,000 air raid victims are still alive.
Examples of compensation for civilian victims of wartime aerial bombardment appear to be extremely rare.
Several Chinese victims of Japanese aggression have won lawsuits in the past, including laborers who were sent to Japan to work in slave-like conditions.
China considers itself the main victim of Japanese colonialist expansion in the first half of the 20th century, claiming that 35 million Chinese were killed or injured before and during World War II.
Full-scale hostilities between China and Japan commenced in 1937 and lasted until Tokyo's surrender to Allied Forces at the end of World War II in August.
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