SHANGHAI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The International Symposium Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Commencement of the Tokyo Trial began at Shanghai Jiao Tong University on Thursday, with scholars from China and several other countries discussing its historical and contemporary significance.
Dozens of experts from countries including Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Germany, Spain attended the event, which which examined the Tokyo Trial from three perspectives: history, international relations and international law.
Participants said the Tokyo Trial, formally known as the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, established Japan's aggression against countries across the Asia-Pacific through evidence and legal procedures. Together with the Nuremberg trials, it punished war crimes and helped uphold postwar international order, they said.
The scholars said accepting the Tokyo Trial was a necessary requirement for implementing key international law instruments including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, and remained a prerequisite for Japan to regain international trust and restore relations with its neighbors.
They rejected the characterization of the trial as "ex post facto law" or "victors' justice," pointing out that such claims could not undermine its legal foundation and were often used by right-wing forces in Japan to obscure the country's history of aggression and deny wartime responsibility.
Participants also warned against Japanese right-wing elements' promotion of distorted views of history, repeated visits to honor convicted war criminals, efforts to revise the pacifist Constitution, and moves toward military expansion, war preparedness and nuclear armament.
The international community should remain highly vigilant, jointly guard against and oppose the rise of Japan's "neo-militarism," and prevent the tragedy of war from recurring, they said, emphasizing the importance of revisiting the Tokyo Trial at a time when the postwar international order and peace in the Asia-Pacific face new challenges.
The symposium was jointly organized by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. Participants are scheduled to visit the memorial hall on Friday and attend a mourning ceremony. ■
