Newly declassified archives add evidence to Japan's wartime crimes against China

A set of declassified archives detailing the Soviet Union's interrogations of Unit 731, the notorious biological warfare force of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, was released on Saturday, adding more irrefutable evidence to Japan's wartime crimes against China.

The archives, released on the 12th National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims by China's National Archives Administration, were provided by Russia in September. They include interrogation records of Unit 731 members, investigation reports on their crimes, and internal correspondence spanning from May 1939 to December 1950, according to the administration.

The archives primarily focus on the Khabarovsk war crimes trials, which were the hearings of 12 members of Unit 731 charged with preparing and implementing biological warfare and conducting human experimentation during World War II. These trials, held from Dec 25 to 30, 1949, in the Russian city of Khabarovsk, resulted in convictions of the criminals for crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.