New evidence of Japanese germ warfare unit made public

HARBIN - An original material from a Japanese army hospital that cooperated with Unit 731, a Japanese germ warfare army during World War II, has gone on public display for the first time in Mudanjiang City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The material is of great significance for research into the Japanese army hospital, which was implicated in conducting vivisections, according to the Exhibition Hall of Evidences of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Army, which is located in Harbin, capital of Heilongjiang.

The hospital in Harbin was the largest army hospital established by the Japanese army in northeast China, with advanced medical treatment instruments and operating rooms, and assumed the functions of treating and transporting wounded patients, said Jin Shicheng, a researcher with the exhibition hall.

"According to the data, the hospital was an extension of the medical crime of Unit 731. It was closely related to Japanese germ warfare since the beginning of its preparation, and was an important participant and associate of such warfare," Jin said.

"The study found that human experiments and germ warfare carried out by Unit 731 were assisted by Japanese wartime medical institutions," said Jin Chengmin, curator of the exhibition hall.

"This once again proves that the Japanese invasion of China was a top-down, organized and planned group crime carried out by Japanese militarism," he added.

Unit 731 was a top-secret biological and chemical warfare research base established in Harbin as the nerve center for Japanese biological warfare in China and Southeast Asia during World War II. (Xinhua)