China rejects Japanese 'comfort women' protest

BEIJING, June 11 (UPI) -- China rejected a Japanese request Wednesday to withdraw an application for UNESCO to maintain a register of Japanese World War II sex slaves.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying confirmed Tuesday that China applied to UNESCO "Memory of the World Register" to list documents pertinent to the 1937 "Nanking Massacre," a mass murder by Japanese troops in the Chinese city currently called Nanjing. In addition, China applied to UNESCO regarding Japan's wartime "comfort women," about 200,000 of whom were forced into sexual servitude by Japan's invading armies.

"We will not accept Japan's unreasonable protest, and will not drop our application. The aim of China's application is to firmly bear history in mind and cherish peace, respect human dignity and prevent behaviors against humanity, human rights and human beings from happening again," Hua said.

Japan lodged a protest over the application earlier Wednesday, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said.

The "Memory of the World Register" was created by UNESCO in 1997 to protect documentary evidence and heritage.