The recent public apology
Mitsubishi Materials extended to American POW for their stint as labor slaves
in Japan during WWII followed by the company’s offer to pay damages to Chinese
prisoners who also served as slave labor was widely acclaimed as the first
legal win for Chinese victims of Japanese atrocities in WWII. In the course of
doing my research, I found that even if Mitsubishi goes forward and actually
pay indemnification; theirs was not the first for Chinese plaintiffs.
That dubious honor goes to
the Chen family who doggedly pursue justice from Mitsui that span three
generations. Finally, in April 2014 the grandson was awarded a judgment of RMB
260 million (about $43 million) on a lawsuit his grandfather initiated. This is
widely regarded as the landmark case in the history of China Japan relations.
The grandfather, Chen Shuntong (陈顺通), started as a dock worker at age 14 and became
the owner of Zhong Wei Shipping, then China’s largest shipping company by 1930
when he was 35. In 1936, the predecessor Japanese company to Mitsui signed a
one-year lease for the use of Shunfeng
and Xintaiping. With the capacity of
more than 6000 tons and 5000 tons respectively, those were at the time considered
the largest and state-of-the-art ships in China.
By 1937, Japan and China were
officially at war and the ships were never returned to the owner. Upon
conclusion of the WWII, Chen found out that both ships sank and were lost at
sea during the conflict. The War and the loss of his ships led to deep
depression and drove him to bankruptcy. He fell ill and died in November 1949.
On his deathbed, he made his son swore to continue to pursue justice from the
Japanese.
His son, Chen Qiaqun, left
Shanghai and began to pursue justice out of Hong Kong. In 1962, he went to
Japan and because Japan’s imperial navy had commandeered the ships, he began to
seek compensation from Japan’s government before the Tokyo district court. The
court ruled in 1974 that the statues of limitation on this suit had expired.
End of the story in Japan.
In
1987, China’s court ruled that because the lease signed in 1936 took place in
Shanghai and the principals were residing in Shanghai as were the ships in
question, then the court in Shanghai has jurisdiction over the case. Next year
Chen Qiaqun again filed the case on behalf of the Zhong Wei company. The first
hearing in the Shanghai Maritime Court(上海海事法院) took place on August 15,
1991
In April 1992, Qiaqun passed
away due to illness and he again made his two oldest sons promise to carry on
the wishes of their grandfather. Between 1995 and 2003, there were four more
hearings in court. Finally on December 7, 2007 the Shanghai court ruled that
Mitsui, the successor owner, owed the Chen family 2.916 billion Yen or
equivalent to 200 million Renminbi. At that time, this case was celebrated as
the longest running case against a Japanese entity and the largest award for damages.
But that was not the end of
the story because Mitsui did not take the case to China’s higher court nor pay
the damages. On April 19, 2014, the Shanghai court seized a ship belonging to
Mitsui for not honoring the ruling of the court. This move caught Mitsui by
surprise and caused a sensation in Japan. The spokesman from the foreign
affairs ministry of both countries quickly exchanged public statements into a media standoff.
Four days after the seizure,
Mitsui appeared before the Shanghai court and paid 4 billion Japanese yen
equivalent to 260 million Renminbi. Next morning, the ship was released to
Mitsui.
Lesson
learned from this story: Victims of Japanese WWII atrocities had no recourse
until recently, only becoming possible now that China has become an
economically strong nation and a judiciary system willing to hear cold cases
more than 70 years old. It’s worth noting that the court in China did not rush
to judgment but took the time to examine the issues involved.
My thanks to Thekla Lit for
calling the original material in Chinese to my attention.
My friend, Professor Ivy Lee, has reminded me that there have been other cases that settled between Chinese slave laborers and Japanese companies. Somehow these cases have always led to controversy as is the case with the current pending cases.
My friend, Professor Ivy Lee, has reminded me that there have been other cases that settled between Chinese slave laborers and Japanese companies. Somehow these cases have always led to controversy as is the case with the current pending cases.