Red Cross denies misusing funds for wartime laborers

Updated: 2011-10-21 08:04

By He Dan (China Daily)

  Comments() Print Mail Large Medium  Small 分享按鈕 0

BEIJING - The Red Cross Society of China on Thursday denied accusations that it had misused a fund established to compensate Chinese laborers who were forced to work in Japan during World War II.

"The China Red Cross has not taken a penny from the fund or asked for fees to cover our administrative cost," said Zhang Hu, an official in the department in charge of the fund.

The fund was established with 500 million Japanese yen ($6.5 million) meant to give assistance to 986 Chinese laborers forced to work in Japan or to their families.

Since 2000, the organization has used the fund to dole out compensation to 520 such people, its website reported on Thursday.

The statement dismissed claims that the China Red Cross has withheld half of the money and said the fund has been managed in accordance with the country's regulations and that its account records have been audited by the National Audit Office.

The China Red Cross has not made records about the use of the fund public.

"As required by the fund's management committee, the fund containing 500 million yen was divided into two parts," Zhang said. "One of those was to be used as one-off payments, as living subsidies for survivors or to pay for their children's educations."

He said the other 250 million yen has been allocated to arrange visits to honor Chinese laborers who are buried in Japan, to build memorials to the victims of the forced labor and to do other things to "help both the Chinese and Japanese peoples remember and draw lessons from history".

In 1995, 11 Chinese people filed a lawsuit against Kajima, a Japanese company, because its wartime predecessor, Kajima-gumi, had operated the Hanaoka Labor Camp in Akita prefecture and pressed 986 Chinese into hard labor.

During World War II, it is believed that 40,000 Chinese were taken to Japan to work as slave laborers, supporting the country's economy and production of weaponry at a time when most Japanese men were serving in their country's army.

After a five-year court battle, Kajima and the Chinese plaintiffs reached an agreement in the Tokyo High Court, in which Kajima agreed to set up a 500 million yen Hanaoka Peace and Friendship Fund but denied any legal responsibility for the forced labor.

In 2000, the fund's management committee, which was composed of a Chinese person who had to work in Japan, a relative of one of the victims, a China Red Cross official and three Japanese, including one lawyer, was established, and the China Red Cross was appointed to be the operator of the fund.

In an interview with China National Radio, Li Min, a writer whose main subject is the forced wartime labor, was quoted as saying that the China Red Cross should tell the public how the money in the fund has been spent and where the rest of the it will go. That's especially true, she said, since the organization has not managed to find more than 400 of the Chinese who were forced into labor or their families.

"There is indeed some money left, but the (China) Red Cross cannot disclose the financial information without the fund's administration committee's permission," Zhang said.

Deng Guosheng, director of the NGO Research Center at Tsinghua University, argued that the China Red Cross is not obliged to publish information about the fund because the money that went into it came from a Japanese company "rather than from the public".

One relative of someone who was forced into labor said he does not know if the fund is going toward the proper purpose.

"We have no idea whether the China Red Cross misused the money since my family refused to accept the money from the Japanese company," said Geng Shuoyu, whose 97-year-old father, Geng Zhun, was forced to work for Kajima in 1944.

"Kajima did not feel sorry for its wrongdoing and called the money a donation instead of compensation," Geng said. "My family can never accept that."

Related Stories

Red Cross hit by new claims 2011-10-14 07:36
China's Red Cross to send $7.8m aid to Libya 2011-10-13 14:07
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲αv在线精品糸列| 狠狠躁夜夜躁人人爽天天天天97 | 国产精品久久久亚洲| 国产一级在线免费观看| 佐佐木明希哔哩哔哩| 乱人伦精品视频在线观看| 中国一级黄色片子| 404款禁用软件onlyyou| 色妞bbbb女女女女| 欧美激情性xxxxx| 日本另类z0zx| 国产综合亚洲欧美日韩一区二区| 国产亚洲成AV人片在线观看导航| 亚洲黑人嫩小videos| 久久国产色AV免费观看| JIZZJIZZ亚洲日本少妇| 亚洲人成影院77777| 中文字幕亚洲乱码熟女一区二区| 99久久香蕉国产线看观香 | 青青国产精品视频| 欧美综合自拍亚洲综合图| 拨开内裤直接进入| 国产精品中文久久久久久久| 免费超爽大片黄| 九一在线完整视频免费观看| av无码aV天天aV天天爽| 青娱乐在线播放| 欧美性猛交XXXX乱大交3| 成人午夜免费福利| 天天做天天摸天天爽天天爱| 国产亚洲欧美日韩精品一区二区| 亚洲成人一级电影| yellow字幕网在线zmzz91| 青青国产成人久久激情91麻豆| 欧美疯狂ⅹbbbb另类| 嫩b人妻精品一区二区三区| 国产在线麻豆精品观看| 亚洲手机中文字幕| h无遮挡男女激烈动态图| 色8久久人人97超碰香蕉987| 最近中文字幕在线中文视频|