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What Is Criminal and What Is Not: Prosecuting Wartime Japanese Sex Crimes in the People's Republic of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2020

Xiaoyang Hao
Xiaoyang Hao*
Affiliation:
Kyushu University. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) prosecuted Japanese military servicemen for war crimes committed during and after the Sino-Japanese War. This paper examines written confessions left by those Japanese war crimes suspects and considers to what extent they were used by the CCP to prosecute sexual violence during the trials. The historical analysis is contextualized by an examination of the representation of the CCP's legal approach to sexual violence in articles from the People's Daily. This paper finds that although accounts of sexual violence are found in the confessions written by suspected Japanese war criminals, the courts did not make rape a focal point of the prosecutions and did not pursue the so-called “comfort women” issue. Furthermore, no victim of rape was called to testify before the court. The CCP's approach to the issue of sexual violence in the 1956 trials closely corresponded to the discourse and propaganda in the People's Daily.

摘要

摘要

1956 年中国共产党进行了战犯审判，处理了日军在二战中国战场上所犯下的包括性暴力在内的罪行。本文聚焦于此战犯审判中对于性暴力的审判，对日军战犯嫌疑人的笔供自述进行考察，并探讨这些笔供在审判中如何被使用。此外，本文试图通过分析人民日报于 1946 至 1956 年间对性暴力问题的报道，来侧面理解和诠释共产党战犯审判中性暴力处理之问题。通过考察可以看出，尽管日军战犯嫌疑人在笔供中记录了性暴力罪行，但战犯审判并未以强奸作为重点且完全忽视了 “慰安妇” 问题，强奸受害者亦未被传唤出庭作证。而共产党在此战犯审判中对性暴力问题的处理方法，与同时期人民日报对性暴力问题的报道和宣传高度一致。

Keywords

sexual violence“comfort women”CCP trialsconfessionsPeople's Daily性暴力“慰安妇”共产党审判笔供自述人民日报
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 242 , June 2020 , pp. 529 - 549
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2020

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