China's National Archives Administration released declassified Russian documents on Soviet interrogations of Japan's Unit 731 on Saturday. These include records of interrogations and crime investigations. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated on Monday that they provide ironclad proof of the unit's crimes against humanity during its aggression against China.
China's National Archives Administration published a set of declassified archives provided by Russia on Saturday, focusing on Soviet interrogations of Japan's Unit 731 in Khabarovsk. The documents include interrogation transcripts of Unit 731 members and reports investigating the unit's crimes.
At a regular press briefing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun described the archives as additional ironclad evidence of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by Japan's Unit 731 during its invasion of China. The records detail various live human experiments, such as those involving pathogens, frostbite, corrosive liquids, and erosive gases. Victims included not only Chinese people but also individuals from the Soviet Union and the Korean Peninsula.
For the first time, the interrogation records reveal confessions from Kiyoshi Kawashima, former head of Unit 731's bacterial production department, and other Japanese war criminals. They outline the Japanese military's extensive use of biological weapons in China during 1940, 1941, and 1942, aimed at the large-scale destruction of human life.
Guo noted that the Khabarovsk trial records corroborate and supplement files held in China, along with the Unit 731 site, demonstrating the unit's crimes in China and confirming germ warfare as a premeditated, organized, top-down, and systematic state crime. Beyond China, the Japanese military established Unit 9420 in Singapore in 1942, conducting illicit human experiments and germ warfare in Southeast Asian countries. Such atrocities deserve eternal condemnation.
Despite these solid facts, Guo warned, Japanese right-wing forces continue to deny, whitewash, and gloss over the aggression and crimes. Forgetting history amounts to betrayal, and denying responsibility invites repetition of offenses. All nations must urge Japan to fully confront the lingering specter of militarism, prevent tragedies from recurring, uphold the outcomes of World War II victory and the postwar international order, and protect hard-won global peace and stability.
