Chongqing bombing trial starts in Tokyo

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Chengdu Evening News
June 16, 2009

At the Tokyo District Court yesterday, a judge heard the case of 22 Chinese victims of the bombing of Chongqing. The plaintiffs are demanding an apology from the Japanese government and compensation of 10 million yen each.

According to an earlier report, the victims, all of whom are from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, sued the Japanese government for the indiscriminate bombing of Chinese cities from 1938 to 1944, inflicting losses on their families and themselves.

In its analysis of the legal obstacles for the war compensation lawsuits against Japan, the article pointed out that one reason that many such cases are lost is that the Chinese government waived claims for war compensation in 1972 in a joint announcement with Japan. The announcement has been quoted frequently by the Japanese side in courts.

The newspaper’s top headline reports that the government will levy a gift tax of 20% on the transfer of real estate property. Transfers between parents and children, grandparents and grandchildren, and siblings will not be subject to such taxation. The new measure is intent to avoid a practice prevalent in the second-hand property market in which a tax dodge is disguised as a gift.

The sidebar announces that a draft version of an animal protection law may soon be passed. According to the draft law, which will be China’s first law to protect animals from abuse, violators will face criminal charges.

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