Subject: [cwj 85] Japan downplays Chinese war enslavement lawsuit in US
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2000 13:44:10 -0700
Seq: 85
For more info on forced labor and Japanese corporations, see http://www.corpwatch.org/japan/domestic/#corphr Wednesday, August 23 2:13 PM SGT Japan downplays Chinese war enslavement lawsuit in US TOKYO, Aug 23 (AFP) - Japan Wednesday downplayed a lawsuit filed in the United States alleging that two Japanese conglomerates forced thousands of Chinese citizens into slave labour during World War II. "This lawsuit is reported to be a private case in which the Japanese government does not seem to be involved," a foreign ministry official said. "But personally, I have some doubt over whether a Californian state court can have jurisdiction over matters already resolved by both the Japanese and Chinese governments," he said. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday by four Chinese-Americans and five Chinese nationals against Japanese conglomerates Mitsubishi and Mitsui. It alleges the giant trading houses enslaved Chinese nationals to work in mines and factories in brutal conditions. Japan occupied a large swathe of China during their 1937-1945 war. Spokesmen for Mitsubishi and Mitsui in Tokyo declined to comment, saying the companies had yet to receive a copy of the lawsuit. Japan and China formally wrapped up hostilities in a peace treaty signed in 1978, six years after Japan formally recognised Beijing instead of Taiwan. The treaty, however, left open the possibility of individuals suing Japanese companies, said another foreign ministry official. "The Japanese government cannot nullify their rights to do so, but the Japan-China joint communique signed in 1972 does say that the right to seek compensation by either government was abandoned," he said. Japan's government has fought off compensation bids from former prisoners of war lodged in Japanese courts by pointing to its comprehensive 1951 San Francisco peace settlement with the Allies. But the nine California plaintiffs, advised by lawyers who have extracted compensation over the use of slave labour by Nazi Germany, are seeking to turn the case into a wider class-action lawsuit. Four of the plaintiffs live in California and five in Beijing. More are expected to be added to the suit against Mitsubishi and Mitsui. No dollar amount was specified in the complaint. But attorney David Grosz said a case against Swiss banks holding Jewish war-time assets was settled for 1.25 billion dollars, while settlements against German firms over enforced labour reached some five billion dollars. The nine plaintiffs were "herded like cattle into trains and loaded into cargo ships, where they were forced to live under horrific conditions in the cargo holds for weeks," the lawsuit claims. Some enslaved Chinese workers were beaten by Japanese supervisors or buried alive in mines, according to the plaintiffs' attorneys. "The facts are still largely unrevealed of what the Japanese did," said Barry Fisher, a colleague of Grosz. "It's important to redress the claims of these individuals who were exploited by private companies." FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________