Japan's education ministry announced on Monday all 18 new social studies textbooks that are authorized for use in the country's junior high schools from April next year. Some of the textbooks were changed so that their descriptions of the Nanjing Massacre, which originally stated that the Japanese army "killed many captives and civilians," were altered to say that it "involved" captives and civilians and "casualties were exposed."

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East made a final judgment in 1948 on Japanese troops' atrocities in Nanjing, leaving no room for any question or refutation. The judgment asserted that the Japanese atrocities were committed against defenseless civilians in the city as Chinese forces had retreated and all resistance had ceased before Japanese troops occupied Nanjing on December 13, 1937.

As it also noted, "Estimates made at a later date indicate that the total number of civilians and prisoners of war murdered in Nanjing and its vicinity during the first six weeks of the Japanese occupation was over 200,000." The verdict is crystal clear that the Japanese army killed civilians and captives. How can the newly reviewed textbooks downplay the killings as just "involving" the civilians and captives?

In Japan there are always attempts to reverse the judgment. In 1965, Japanese historian Saburo Ienaga filed a lawsuit against the Japanese education ministry's rejection of his New Japanese History. It was until 1997 that the Supreme Court finally ruled that the ministry abused its discretion with regard to the unconstitutional censoring of Ienaga's description of four matters including the Unit 731 and Nanjing Massacre. The court also ordered the government to pay Ienaga 400,000 yen ($3,320) in compensation.

In 1982, the education ministry demanded a textbook change its description that the Japanese army "invaded" northern China into "advanced into." This aroused protests from enraged Asian countries that had fallen victim to Japan during WWII, including China and South Korea. Japan's textbook authorization system thus became a diplomatic issue that international society watches closely.

In response to these attempts, China established an array of facilities to commemorate the country's wartime sufferings, which include the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, Museum of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing and the September 18th Historical Museum in Shenyang.

The Japanese education ministry's frequent moves to distort the facts in textbooks are aimed at downplaying Japan's responsibilities for its wartime atrocities. It also exposes Japan's ill-natured views of history.

By using "involve" instead of originally "kill," the Japanese government attempts to whitewash Japanese troops' organized and planned killings in Nanjing and embellish them as merely fights with the Chinese forces that "involve" the casualties of some civilians and captives. This kind of clumsy concealment will only arouse stronger revulsion among the public in countries harmed by Japan and it goes against the global commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of WWII.

What's worse, Japanese youth who learn the twisted history from these authorized textbooks will form incorrect views of history which won't match those of people in other countries. This will pose new threats to world peace.

The author is curator of the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn