三菱综合材料与中国劳工达成和解

A Chinese lawyer suing a Japanese company for reparations over wartime forced labour said on Thursday that despite a settlement deal for a few ageing victims, her two-decade quest would continue.

起诉一家日本公司、为战争期间被掳劳工索赔的中国律师周四表示，尽管该公司与几名年事已高的受害者达成了和解协议，但她不会停止持续20年的努力。

“It’s not over. From the point of view of the plaintiffs it’s not over,” Kang Jian told the Financial Times. The settlement announced this week was not representative, she said. “Mitsubishi Materials shouldn’t play these word games.”

康健向英国《金融时报》表示：“这件事并未结束。从原告的观点来说，它并未结束。”她说，本周宣布的和解协议不具有代表性。“三菱综合材料株式会社(Mitsubishi Materials Co)不应玩弄这些文字游戏。”

Her remarks came after the Japanese company agreed to pay Rmb100,000 ($15,000) and apologise to each of three former labourers who were taken to Japan and forced to work in the company’s mines.

康健发表上述言论之前，三菱综合材料同意向被强掳至日本、并在其矿山做苦役的3名劳工每人支付10万元人民币（合1.5万美元），并向他们道歉。

The settlements have raised the prospect of healing a longstanding sore in Sino-Japanese relations but Ms Kang’s remarks are a reminder that thousands of potential cases remain outstanding in China.

该和解协议提升了治愈中日关系长期“伤疤”的前景，但康健的言辞提醒人们，中国的数千宗潜在案件依然尚待解决。

Mitsubishi Materials said “it continues to seek a comprehensive and permanent solution with all of its former labourers and their families”. The company is setting up a fund in China to search for other former labourers and build memorials.

三菱综合材料表示，“继续寻求与所有被掳劳工及其家属达成全面而永久的和解协议”。该公司在中国设立了一家基金，以寻找其他被掳劳工并修建纪念碑。

Mitsubishi Materials is the corporate successor to Mitsubishi Mining Corporation, which used 3,765 Chinese workers in mines such as Hashima — known as “Battleship Island” or “Hell Island” — where they worked under brutal conditions.

三菱综合材料的前身是三菱矿业株式会社(Mitsubishi Mining Corporation)，后者在端岛(Hashima)等矿山使用了3765名中国劳工，强迫他们在恶劣条件下劳动。端岛也被称为军舰岛或地狱岛。

A similar agreement with all the ex-workers and their families would cost Rmb376.5m.

与所有被掳劳工及其家属签署类似协议将花费3.765亿元人民币。

The settlement is limited to Chinese men who were tricked or coerced into working in Japan during the war, not the millions who worked in Japanese-operated mines or factories in occupied Chinese territory.

该协议仅限于在二战期间被骗或被迫在日本工作的中国人，而非数百万在中国被占领土的日资经营矿山或工厂工作的劳工。

When the survivors returned to China after the war their names and addresses were all registered, making the claims relatively easy to verify.

当幸存者在二战后返回中国的时候，他们的姓名和地址全都被登记下来，这让索赔请求相对容易核实。

Nonetheless, when Ms Kang went looking for the forced labourers in the 1990s she had to drive from village to village in Shandong province, because the turmoil of subsequent decades left the mens’ original addresses of little use.

然而，当康健在上世纪90年代寻找这些被掳劳工的时候，她不得不驱车在山东省的各个村子寻访，因为随后数十年的动荡让这些人最初的地址几乎没用。

After decades of avoiding the issue, Mitsubishi Materials has been trying to reckon with its wartime past. Last year it made a historic apology to American prisoners of war forced to labour in its mines.

在数十年回避该问题之后，三菱综合材料近年试图正视自己的战时历史。去年，该公司向当年被迫在其矿山劳作的美国战俘做出了历史性的道歉。

China absolved Japan of any wartime claims in a 1972 communique normalising relations. That allowed Japanese investment and development aid to flow into China.

中国在1972年中日关系正常化公报中放弃了对日本的任何战争索赔权利。这使得日本投资和发展援助流入中国。

But as relations between the two countries has deteriorated in recent years, partly because of disputes over wartime history, activists in Korea and China have pursued private cases against companies.

但随着两国关系近年恶化——部分原因是围绕战争历史的纠纷——韩国和中国的活动人士寻求个人对公司的索赔。

In 2014 a Beijing court accepted a suit brought by 40 former forced labourers against Mitsubishi Materials and Nippon Coke & Engineering. They claimed damages of about $40m. Ms Kang has another 1,000 families and survivors signed up if the court agrees to accept a class action.

2014年，一家北京法庭受理了40名被掳劳工对三菱综合材料和Nippon Coke & Engineering提起的诉讼。原告请求获得约4000万美元的损害赔偿金。如果法庭同意受理集体诉讼，康健还会代理1000名家属和幸存者提起诉讼。

However, with many of the victims elderly, ill or dead, and Mitsubishi Materials offering an apology as well as money, more families may be willing to accept the settlement.

然而，随着许多受害者年事已高、生病或者去世，随着三菱综合材料做出道歉并支付赔偿，更多家属可能愿意接受和解。