Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT), posts a message on Facebook to mark the 88th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which she strongly criticized Japan on December 13, 2025. Photo: screenshot from Hung’s Facebook page.

Hung Hsiu-chu, former chairperson of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party, on Saturday posted a message on Facebook to mark the 88th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, in which she strongly criticized Japan. December 13, 2025 marks China's 12th National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims.

Hung said Saturday marks the 88th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, noting, "Each year on this date, the pain in my heart has not diminished in the slightest." She wrote that more than 300,000 unarmed Chinese compatriots were brutally slaughtered, buried alive, and trampled, leaving rivers of blood, by militarist forces in Nanjing 88 years ago. "They are not cold statistics, but families and individual lives," she said.

"What pains me even more," Hung wrote, "is that the words and actions of Japan's current Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi show no signs of reflection or remorse, but instead once again fuel the atmosphere of right-wing militarism in Japan." She asked: "Given Takaichi's provocative remarks and actions, how can the unjustly slain souls beneath the walls of Nanjing ever rest in peace?" 

Hung contrasted Japan with Germany, saying Germany has turned reflection into action and embedded historical truth into its national conscience because it understands that "only by bravely facing the past can one move toward a new future." In contrast, she said, Japan has never truly assumed responsibility for its WWII aggression; right-wing forces repeatedly deny those crimes, visit the Yasukuni Shrine, revise textbooks, and treat history as a political tool.

"Commemoration is meant to prevent the tragedy from being repeated," Hung said in closing. May the pain of history remind us that peace comes at a cost. Politicians in Taiwan region and Japan must understand that provoking conflict and inciting war is completely wrong, because war is never the choice of the majority of the people, she wrote. 

Global Times