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April 2005 Claims the Japanese are re-writing history have re-opened old wounds for the Chinese. But at the heart of the dispute is the struggle for dominance of the region. It’s impossible to justify Japan’s reluctance to face it’s second world war history,” states Asian expert Juergen Kremb. Even today, many Japanese politicians dismiss events like the 1937 Nanking massacre as minor incidents. “The Japanese see themselves as the victims of the war and not the aggressor,” states university professor Peter Pantzer. News that Japanese schoolbooks left out war crimes in China provoked a wave of anti-Japanese protests. But the real issue at stake is not only Japan’s reluctance to confront its past. It’s dominance of Asia. As Juergen Kremb explains: “You can’t forget that China wants to be a world superpower and project its strength, but it is up against another world power in the region.”
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At least 21 dead babies in plastic bags were found dumped in a river in China’s eastern Shandong province over the weekend. Two mortuary workers were arrested after investigators discovered they were paid by the families of the deceased babies to dispose of them. Two heads of the hospital where the unlawful acts took place have also been sacked for negligence. Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett visited the hospital in the city of Jining – where the medical scandal took place. [March 31, 2010]
