TOKYO: Japan on Saturday lashed out at Unesco’s decision to inscribe documents related to the Nanjing massacre in its Memory of the World register, describing it as “extremely regrettable” and calling for the process to be reformed.

On Friday the UN cultural and scientific body agreed to 47 new inscriptions, including a request by Beijing to mark documents recording the mass murder and rape committed by Japanese troops after the fall of the Chinese city of Nanjing in 1937.

The massacre, often referred to as the “Rape of Nanjing”, is an exceptionally sensitive issue in the often-tense relations between Japan and China, with Beijing charging that Tokyo has failed to atone for the atrocity.

Japan had called for the Nanjing documents not to be included and accused the world body of being politicised.

“It is extremely regrettable that a global organisation that should be neutral and fair entered the documents in the Memory of the World register, despite the repeated pleas made by the Japanese government,” Tokyo’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“As a responsible member of Unesco, the Japanese government will seek a reform of this important project, so that it will not be used politically,” the statement added.

Unesco decision came after a two-year process during a meeting of experts tasked with studying nominations from 40 countries.

The new inscriptions were agreed at a meeting that ran from Sunday to Tuesday and was held in the United Arab Emirates.

Beijing rejected Japan’s protest about the Unesco move, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2015

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