(Photo Credit: Reuters)
(BGF) – According to Reuters, and covered in The Japan Times, approximately 700 plaintiffs have filed a case against Japanese firms at a courthouse in Shandong Province, China. The plaintiffs are seeking reparations for forced labor utilized by Japanese companies during World War II. The Japanese firms involved are Mitsubishi Corp (Qingdao) Ltd., Yantai Misubishi Cement Co., Nippon Coke and Engineering Industry Co., and Nippon Yakin Kogyo. While it is unclear how far the suit will progress, some fear that the suit could further damage already strained Chinese-Japanese relations. Click here to read the full article or visit The Japan Times.
Chinese Families Suing Japan Inc. for War Redress in Bigger Numbers
By Sui-Lee Wee and Li Hui
BEIJING – As relations between Beijing and Tokyo plumb a new low, the descendants of hundreds of Chinese men forced to work in wartime Japan are taking big, modern-day Japanese corporations to court, seeking millions in compensation.
Japan invaded China in 1937 and ruled parts of it with a brutal hand for the next eight years. Chinese historians say nearly 40,000 men were taken to Japan against their will to work in mines and construction. Survivors say living conditions were appalling. Many did not make it back to China.
In possibly the biggest class-action suit in Chinese legal history, about 700 plaintiffs lodged a case against two Japanese firms at a courthouse in eastern Shandong province in April, according to Fu Qiang, a lawyer representing the families. Among the plaintiffs are several forced laborers now in their 80s and 90s, and this might be their last chance to seek redress.
The suit was filed against Mitsubishi Corp (Qingdao) Ltd., a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corp., and Yantai Misubishi Cement Co., a joint venture between Mitsubishi Corp. and construction firm Mitsubishi Materials Corp., Fu said.
The plaintiffs are each seeking 1 million yuan ($160,100) in compensation and a public apology in several prominent Chinese and Japanese newspapers, as well as the erection of a memorial and monument in remembrance of the forced labourers, Fu said, adding that they also want the companies to fund their legal expenses.
It is unclear whether the lawsuit, along with other smaller cases, will be accepted. But lawyers say there is a good chance they will be heard after a Shanghai court last month impounded a Japanese ship over a dispute that dates back to the 1930s war between the two nations.
The lawsuits could further irritate diplomatic relations. Late last month, China released previously confidential Japanese wartime documents, including some about comfort women forced to serve in military brothels. The files also contain details of the Nanking Massacre — a major source of disagreement between the countries.
The plaintiffs, including families and surviving forced labourers seeking redress, total at least 940, with combined claims reaching at least 865 million yuan, lawyers say.
That figure could rise further as there were nearly 8,000 forced labourers from Shandong during the war, according to Fu.
The other two Japanese companies involved in the suits are coal producer Nippon Coke and Engineering Industry Co., formerly known as Mitsui Mining Co., and stainless steel maker Nippon Yakin Kogyo, the lawyers say.
“When we took the labourers to Japan to negotiate a settlement and listened to their speeches, they moved us to tears,” said Deng Jianguo, a lawyer involved in five of these lawsuits since 2007. “They (the Japanese companies) have the ability to compensate and make amends for (their) past mistakes, but they aren’t doing it. I think, morally, you can’t justify this.”
Similar suits would be filed in central Henan and northern Hebei provinces, Deng said.
Mitsubishi Corp’s spokesman Susumu Isogai said in Tokyo: “We can’t make any comment as we have not received the complaint.”
Takuya Kitamura, a spokesman for Mitsubishi Materials, and Masayuki Miyazaki, a spokesman for Nippon Coke, both declined to comment, saying they had not received any complaints.
A Nippon Yakin spokesman, who declined to be identified, said the company is unaware of any new lawsuits against it.
Lawyers say they are optimistic the latest cases will be heard as the courts have asked them to provide more evidence to their claims.
In 2010, a Chinese court threw out a lawsuit filed by 1,000 forced labourers against Mitsubishi Corp. (Qingdao) and Yantai Misubishi Cement Co., Fu said.
But lawyers say the impounding of the Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd. ship is giving them hope.
The seizure had sparked some initial concerns that Japanese assets in China might become casualties in legal battles between Japanese corporations and activists seeking redress. Mitsui later paid about $29 million for the release of the vessel.
Several international war claims experts said it is important to note the acceptance by a Beijing court of a smaller suit in February from 40 plaintiffs demanding compensation for Chinese citizens made by the Japanese to work as forced labourers for Mitsubishi Materials Corp. and Nippon Coke during World War II — a first by a Chinese court.
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