Published : 2025-06-21
On June 21, 1956, China released the first batch of Japanese war criminals.
On that day, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) exempted a total of 335 Japanese war criminals from prosecution and released them.
In January 1954, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) instructed the Supreme People's Procuratorate to establish the Northeast Working Group, which was specifically responsible for the investigation and interrogation of Japanese war criminals.
Thereafter, the Chinese government began cautiously releasing Japanese war criminals.
By April 1956, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) had passed the Decision on the Handling of Japanese War Criminals Imprisoned for Aggressing China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China once explained to the outside world that considering 10 years had passed since the end of World War II, there were significant changes in the positions of China and Japan.
At the same time, China-U.S. relations were worsening continuously, and there were signs of decline in China-Soviet relations.
Therefore, the policy of lenient treatment was adopted, which would help the normalisation of China-Japan relations and promote the easing of the international situation.
