Old Japanese Soldier Kanemaru Chihiro Visits China During the Qingming Festival To Show Grief

At the invitation of the China Association for International Friendly Contact (CAIFC), Kanemaru Chihiro, consultant of the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Association of Japan and original old soldier of the fourth field army, together with his wife visited China before the Qingming Festival. The purpose of Mr. Kanemaru was to sweep the tomb of his old leader Zhao Anbo, the former vice minister of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the CPC,and to meet the relatives of his old friend Jin Li, the late executive Vice Chairman of the CAIFC.

On March 30, accompanied by relatives of Mr. Zhao Anbo, the Kanemaru couple came to Zhao’s tomb in the suburbs of Beijing, proposed Mr. Zhao’s favorite Japanese sake and flowers, and made a deep bow. He recalled that it was Mr. Zhao’s speech that encouraged him to participate in the PLA. Mr. Zhao told him “there were a handful of militarists who should bear responsibility for the war and, the Japanese and Chinese people are both the victims of war,” people’s army should “serve the people,” and the revolutionary spirit of “suffer first, enjoy after.” These things had an influence in all his life.

On April 1, Mr. Kanemaru met with the relatives of Vice Chairman Jin Li and old comrades of the CAIFC, chatting about their old days and renewing the friendship between them. He said that the Japanese veterans group faced with many difficulties in setting up the “Japan-China Peace and Friendship Association” 34 years ago. However, under the enthusiastic support and generous help of Vice Chairman Jin Li and other old friends of the CAIFC, its members had developed from a dozen to thousands of people in its heyday only in 10 years.

Mr. Kanemaru said that before the normalization of Japan-China relations, he had actively promoted cultural communications between China and Japan and met his long admired Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, Dong Biwu of the old generation of leaders twice in 1962 and in 1967. He said it’s his honor to be one of the Japanese who participated in the early work of the Chinese revolution and construction. He placed the precious group photos of him and the Chinese leaders in his home to this day.

He said that his wife Saitou was took in by some kindhearted people in northeast China in the chaos after war. Those days were unforgettable, making them sure to support the Sino-Japanese friendly activities. These deeply personal experiences made them know today’s hard-won Sino-Japanese friendship, which should be delivered from generation to generation. Kanemaru had repeatedly stressed that the generation of him was getting older and older and he hoped more young people from the two countries to join in the Sino-Japanese friendship course, so as to keep it evergreen.

During Mr. Kanemaru’s visit in China, the Liberation Army Daily and Phoenix TV and other media tracked the interview.