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SCMP Reporter

MORE delegates have voiced support for a private campaign to seek war indemnities from Japan, although Beijing waived its claims 23 years ago.

  Sources close to the campaign said pressure was building up across the country to ask Tokyo to pay at least US$300 billion (HK$2,317 billion) in damages to war victims in China.

   But they said their campaign had been hampered by a lack of support from the Chinese Government.

      The topic has been raised by dozens of delegates to the just-concluded Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference but none of their remarks appeared in the internal newsletters.

  The discussion has spread to the NPC.

   At least one congress deputy from Sichuan is thought to have submitted a proposal asking the Government to support the campaign.

   Among the delegates who raised the issue was Liu Tianquan, a coal expert representing the science and technology delegation.

  Mr Liu, 67, is one of the thousands of survivors of the Japanese invasion.

   'If we don't come forward and speak now, the younger generation will know nothing of that war,' he said.

   'Not only that, I was alarmed by the recent remarks by some Japanese politicians who denied the Japanese Army had massacred the Chinese people. If we don't correct that, they will have their way to rewrite the history.'    He said many delegates shared his strong feelings.

   'I gave a speech in one of the discussions, then dozens of the delegates at the group said they have been asked to raise the issue by other war victims,' Mr Liu said.

   'So we put together a proposal and hope the Government will support our call for justice.'    Mr Liu said only by pressing Tokyo for reparations could China ensure Japan could not deny the atrocity.

   'Once they say yes and pay for the suffering they inflicted on us, then there can be no denial,' he said.

    The proposal asked the Government to recognise the campaign as a legitimate movement and set up a national body to co-ordinate it.

   It could be affiliated with the Chinese Red Cross or the China Old Age Science Research Centre, delegates said. Tong Zeng, a researcher with the centre, is widely recognised as a leading campaigner of the war reparation movement.

   Similar proposals have been put forward by delegations representing the arts and culture circle, the nine non-communist parties in China and some special attendants who were invited to join the conference.



More support in campaign to press for war damages