China is demanding that Japan introspect over war crimes committed by Japanese forces in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, in 1937. Bangladesh, likewise, seeks an apology from Pakistan for crimes committed by Pakistani forces leading up to the fall of Dhaka in December 1971.

Coincidentally, both tragedies, Nanjing and Dhaka, occurred in the month of December.

According to Chinese accounts, Japanese troops invaded Nanjing and carried out horrific atrocities, killing an estimated 300,000 Chinese civilians during a six-week occupation.

Pakistani forces, according to Bengali counts and claims, committed war crimes after Bangladesh declared independence in March 1971. Pakistan's government responded with military force to suppress what it viewed as a rebellion. Notably, Pakistani forces were operating within the boundaries of known territory, unlike the Japanese army, which carried out atrocities on foreign soil.

Japan's wartime actions eventually led to the Murayama Statement, issued in 1995 by then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.

Through this statement, Japan formally acknowledged for the first time that it had, "through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries", and expressed "deep remorse" and a "heartfelt apology". The........

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