China adopts tempered tone in marking 80th anniversary of Nanking Massacre

Chinese officials adopted a tempered tone on the 80th anniversary of the Nanking Massacre on Wednesday, saying Beijing would “look forward” to a deeper friendship with Japan, despite historical misgivings, AP reports. President Xi Jinping led a city-wide minute of silence, and Yu Zhengsheng, head of China’s parliamentary advisory body, urged China and Japan to draw lessons from history. These remarks were seen as a departure from China’s frequent criticism of Japan, for not showing sufficient contrition over its brutal campaign in Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Beijing, and a 1946 international postwar tribunal, say at least 200,000 civilians were killed by Japanese troops in the weeks after Nanking, China’s capital at the time, fell, on December 13, 1937.