A man visits a museum founded on the former site of a "comfort women" station in Liji Alley in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, August 14, 2018, the International Memorial Day of Comfort Women. "Comfort women" is a euphemism for women and girls forced into sex slavery by the Japanese during World War II. Some 400,000 women in Asia were forced to serve as "comfort women" during the war, nearly half of whom were Chinese. Japanese forces opened a brothel for soldiers in Liji Alley at the end of 1937. It was closed after the Japanese surrendered in 1945 and is now the largest former "comfort station" still standing. Photo: China News Service

Chinese experts called for paying more respect to "comfort women" survivors amid a debate on social media over an alleged false report on six survivors that was suspected of releasing the women's full names without authorization.

Su Zhiliang from the Research Center for Chinese Comfort Women (RCCCW) under the Shanghai Normal University told the global Times on Wednesday that "we should fully respect the war victims and their families' will, especially when dealing with those who suffered sexually."

According to Su, who has conducted research on Chinese "comfort women" survivors for nearly 30 years, three of all the 16 survivors the RCCCW reached never agreed to release their personal information including names.  

Su made the remark amid debates on Chinese social media after The Beijing News published a report on March 13 on its WeChat account. 

The report is related to six "comfort women" survivors, two of whom surnamed Ling, 89, and Zhang, 91, were registered as "comfort women" survivors earlier this month. 

The report identified one of the women - Ling's cousin - as a "comfort woman" while she had not admitted so, a local volunteer, who anonymously alleged that the report was false on Monday on Weibo, told the Global Times on Wednesday.  

Ling's cousin had not accepted any interview with The Beijing News, according to the volunteer's Sina Weibo. 

The report also made up many details such as Ling can speak Japanese and was detained for three months (it was in fact just over a month) with her cousin, according to the volunteer's Weibo.

Being released to the public without authorization together with the fake details about their stories had hurt these women, said the volunteer.

He said he had got an authorization letter from the women's families to protest against the report. But he did not reply when the Global Times reporter asked if he can provide the letter. 

A Weibo user going by the name Dajiadeluosiding, who claimed to be a friend of The Beijing News reporter surnamed Li, released phone recordings between Li and Ling's grandson on Wednesday. 

In the recording, the grandson told Li it was "no problem" to use Ling and Ling's cousin's full names in report. When asked if he had any comment on the report, the grandson said "no."

However, the grandson later responded on Weibo saying that he was misguided by Li during the phone call and said he couldn't speak on behalf of his grandmother. 

The Beijing News released an announcement on its Sina Weibo account on Tuesday after the volunteer's complaint on Weibo, denying making up any detail and they had got authorization to use full names. They said they had not received any complaint from the women nor their families about the report. 

But many netizens questioned why they had not made clear with the women about using their full names at first. 

The volunteer's complaint on Weibo was supported by the RCCCW as he was a special investigator under the center. 

The center Monday released an announcement on its Weibo account slamming The Beijing News and demanding apology for falsification of the details.

But many netizens questioned why they had not made clear with the women about using their full names at first.  

The volunteer's complaint on Weibo was supported by the RCCCW as he was a special investigator under the center.

The center Monday released an announcement on its Weibo account slamming The Beijing News and demanding apology for falsification of the details.