From: "Ignatius Ding" <ding@HPSMTC1.CUP.HP.COM>
Subject:      Re-Transmit Letter to Akihito
Reply-To: "Ignatius Ding" <ding@HPSMTC1.CUP.HP.COM>
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 00:43:17 GMT
Comments: To: Dennis.D.Lee@Eng.Sun.COM, donovan@csl.sri.com, hknet@cs.wisc.edu,
              ho@mips.com, ifcss%WAM.UMD.EDU@uga.cc.uga.edu,
              joseph_ng%5y@hp0200.desk.hp.com, jung_lin%40@hp1900.desk.hp.COM,
              sdc@longhorn.Corp.sun.com, ggach@pandora.sf.ca.us,
              xwu@janus.Berkeley.EDU, cnd-us@sdsc.edu,
              melody@hpsmtc1.cup.hp.com, jchu@hpsmtc1.cup.hp.com,
              wuling@s1.msi.umn.edu, li@perry.berkeley.edu,
              jyee@eclair.berkeley.edu, Isaac.Chen@Eng.Sun.COM,
              ide!ide.com!cai@uunet.UU.NET, wwang@mail1.cis.umn.edu,
              china-nt@uga.cc.uga.edu, ting_s_wu@ccn.hf.intel.com,
              nguyen@drutx.att.com, china@diva.berkeley.edu

      The following letter has been sent to the Emperor of Japan on the eve of
his visit to China.  Copies of the letter have been made available to the
American, Japanese, and Chinese press as well as the Komeito Party and Nippon
Shakaito Party.  It will also be included in a full-page advertisement in a
newspaper in the United States.  The advertisement is co-sponsored by more than
forty Chinese and Chinese-American organizations in San Francisco Bay Area and
the Greater Los Angeles area.  Additional co-sponsorship is welcome.  Please
contact Mr. Gilbert Chang at (510) 490-2364.

      APTSJW also supports the signature petition drive started by Chinese
citizens in China and will provide info. for supporting this effort in the
advertisement as well.	Organizations in LA area will have a press conference
on October 16th to announce their support of the petition effort.  Several
interviews regarding the Akihito visit have been broadcasted by VOA and BBC.
More programs as such are planned for the next ten days.
===============================================================================


His Majesty Akihito, The Emperor of Japan	   Alliance for Preserving the
c/o Prime Minister' Office                         Truth of Sino-Japan War
1-6, Nagata-cho, Chiyoda-ku			   P.O. Box 152066
Tokyo, Japan		100			   Cupertino, CA 95015-2066 USA


							October 18, 1992

Your Majesty:


      The government of Japan has announced that you will visit China on
October 23, 1992.  The Chinese-Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area like to
take the opportunity to make a few constructive suggestions that would further
the objectives of your trip and make it a far more meaningful endeavor.

      Visits of head of state commonly enhance diplomatic relationship between
countries.  The Emperor of Japan in the past has never set foot on China's soil
although the two nations are neighbors to each other.  Your trip will not only
bear unsurmountable significance in history, but could also set the course for
nurturing long lasting harmony between the two peoples.  At this momentous
juncture, we urge Your Majesty to contemplate and adopt our recommendations to
heal old wounds, bring past conflicts to final closure, and lay the foundation
for peace and prosperity in the region.

      In 1931, the Japanese military forces first invaded the North- eastern
China, also known as the Manchuria Region, then escalated the aggression to
other Asian nations.  Fifteen years of violent Japanese rampage in China and
elsewhere caused the loss of the lives of more than thirty millions Chinese,
the overwhelming majority of them civilians, and hundreds of billion dollars of
properties as the result of deliberate Japanese policies that included mass
reprisal killings and slave labor.  The damages to China and the rest of Asia
continue to have ripple affects today, including the deadly poison gas leaked
from the chemical and biological weaponry labs buried in many places in China
by retreating Japanese soldiers and scientists.  The atrocities and war crimes
committed by Japanese military tyrants was unprecedented.  It must never be
forgotten that a handful of Japanese warlords brought unspeakable horror to
permanently scar the victimized nations, including Japan, and their citizens.

      According to the well-respected Harvard philospher, George Santayana:
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."  The Japanese
people could be relieved of the ghost of the past, and regain the duly deserved
honor and the trust of the world if you choose to acknowledge the past misdeed
and accept the responsibilities and consequences.  Despite the enormity of the
suffering in Asia, Japan has never formally offered a sincere apology to any of
the invaded countries after World War II.  Very unfortunately, the Japanese
government has gone so far to alter the contents of school textbooks to
purposely conceal the truth of history, and has bluntly refused to adequately
compensate the victims of the devastating aggression.  These improper actions
hardly gain respect and pride in the civilized world.  Trust must be earned
with substance.

      Germany has set an excellent example to express its repentance for its
World War II war crimes.  It has not only unfeignedly apologized, but also paid
for restitution, built memorials for war victims, made full disclosure of Nazi
war crimes, and took positive steps to avoid the possibility of repeating its
mistakes in the future.  The whole world salutes its unrelenting effort.

      On the eve of your journey, we hope that you have the vision, the
courage, and the will to shoulder the responsibility, as the head of state, to
finally accept the consequences of the Japanese unmerciful assaults of its
neighbors during the war, offer apology to the Chinese people, pay appropriate
compensation to victims and their families, and tell the truth of history to
the Japanese citizens so that your people will never again bear the burden of
any unconscionable act of aggression.

      We wish you a safe, pleasant, and success trip.


					Sincerely,



					    Gilbert Chang
					    Chairman, Board of Directors
					    and All Members of the Board