The seizure of a Japanese cargo ship by a Chinese court over compensation claims relating to the second world war could potentially expose Japanese companies to hundreds of millions of dollars in liability, although the lapse of time and the deaths of elderly plaintiffs would make pursuing such cases difficult.

中国一家法院因与二战相关的索赔诉讼而扣押了一艘日本货船，此事可能会让日本企业面临数亿美元的赔偿责任，尽管时间的流逝以及上了年纪的原告的去世会给寻求此类赔偿的努力带来难度。

In February, a Chinese court for the first time accepted a lawsuit brought by 40 former forced labourers against Mitsubishi Materials Co and Nippon Coke & Engineering Co, claiming damages of about $40m. A series of related cases marks a breakthrough for activists, forced for years to seek redress in Japan as Chinese courts refused to hear their cases.

今年2月，中国一家法院首次受理了一起由40名二战被掳劳工提起的诉讼，原告要求日本三菱综合材料株式会社(Mitsubishi Materials Co)和Nippon Coke & Engineering Co赔偿约4000万美元。一系列相关案件标志着维权者取得了突破。多年来，这些人被迫要在日本通过法律寻求赔偿，因为中国的法院拒绝审理他们的案件。

At the weekend, the Shanghai Maritime Court ordered the seizure of a Japanese-flagged ore carrier at a deepwater port near the city, after negotiations stalled between Mitsui OSK, which owns the ship, and plaintiffs in a case first opened in 1990.

上周末，上海海事法院下令在上海附近的一个深水港扣押一艘悬挂日本国旗的铁矿石货船。此前，该货船所有者商船三井株式会社(Mitsui OSK Lines)与原告之间的谈判陷入停滞。此案的诉讼最初是在1988年提起的。

The court had previously awarded the claimants Y2.9bn in damages against Mitsui, which said it was surprised by the action.

上海海事法院之前已判决三井应向原告赔偿29亿日元。三井表示，公司对此举感到意外。

China’s new openness to lawsuits brought by private individuals against Japanese companies comes as tension simmers between the two countries. Attitudes are hardening as Tokyo and Beijing spar over disputed gas-rich waters in the East China Sea, and as China seeks to reassert its economic and political weight throughout Asia.

中国重新开始受理个人针对日本企业的索赔诉讼之际，中日之间的紧张局势也到了一触即发的地步。双方的态度日趋强硬，中日两国围绕东中国海天然气储量丰富的争议水域发生争执，另外中国希望重新确立其在亚洲的经济和政治影响力。

“In the past, the Chinese government was not very supportive of the civil law suits filed against Japanese entities because they wanted to maintain a sort of diplomatic consistency,” said Zhou Weihong of the Beijing Centre for Japanese Studies. “Now given the Japanese government, especially the Abe administration’s attitude towards history, the Chinese government has gradually given up the policies in the past and begun to offer a certain degree of convenience for individuals filing court cases.”

“过去，中国政府并不十分支持针对日本实体提起的民事法律诉讼，因为他们希望保持一种外交上的连贯性，”北京日本学研究中心(Beijing Centre for Japanese Studies)教授周维宏表示，“如今，考虑到日本政府、特别是安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)政府对待历史的态度，中国政府逐渐放弃了过去的政策，开始为个人提起法律诉讼提供某种程度的便利。”

Tokyo said the ship seizure could have a “chilling effect” on Japanese business in China, while the Chinese foreign ministry played it down as a “commercial” dispute. Yesterday, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe described the incident as “regrettable”.

日本政府表示，扣船行为可能会对在华日本企业产生“寒蝉效应”。中国外交部则将此案淡化为“一起普通商事合同纠纷案”。日本首相安倍昨日表示，这一事件“令人遗憾”。

For Japanese companies, a new willingness by China and South Korea to hear forced labour cases could present a greater threat than cases like Mitsui’s, which involved a lease deal between two shipping companies that was interrupted by the war.

中国和韩国重新愿意审理被掳劳工诉讼，对日本企业而言，这一势头构成的威胁要大于三井案。三井案涉及两家船运公司间的一项租赁协议，该协议被二战打断。

Chinese lawyers are seeking compensation for wartime labourers who say 38,939 Chinese were sent to Japan to replace Japanese workers drafted into the military. Some 6,830 Chinese died there due to harsh working conditions.

中国律师正努力为二战期间的中国劳工寻求赔偿，他们表示，当时有38939名中国人被掳至日本，取代入伍的日本劳工。由于工作条件恶劣，约6830名中国劳工死在日本。

If the Beijing court agrees to hear the forced labour suit against Mitsubishi and Nippon Coke as a class action case, there could be 9,000 plaintiffs, each seeking $1m and an apology, said Kang Jian, a lawyer who has worked on forced labour issues since 1996. A list of names compiled by Japan in 1946 has helped identify the plaintiffs, while it has been much harder to prove which Chinese might have been forced to work in Japanese factories and mines on mainland China.

自1996年以来就致力于被掳劳工问题的律师康健表示，如果中国法院同意将三菱和Nippon Coke强掳中国劳工赴日劳役案件作为一起集体诉讼案件审理的话，那么该案可能会有9000名原告，每名原告会寻求100万美元赔偿，并要求被告道歉。日本在1946年编制的一份劳工名单有助于确定原告，但要证明中国人可能被迫在日本工厂和中国大陆的矿山做苦工则困难得多。

Activists in China are relying on research by Koreans pursuing similar cases to show that modern Japanese conglomerates are heirs to the assets and business of companies operating before and during the war.

提起类似诉讼的韩国人做了相关研究。中国维权者利用这些研究证明，当代的日本企业集团是那些在二战前以及二战期间运营的日本企业的资产和业务的继承者。

“We are a Japan-based company and want to respond carefully based on Japanese law,” said Nippon Coke. Mitsubishi told Japanese media it would deal with the legal consequences if and when they arose.

Nippon Coke表示：“我们是一家总部位于日本的公司，希望基于日本法律谨慎回应。”三菱向日本媒体表示，如果发生此类诉讼，它将会应对相应的法律后果。

Last July Korean courts awarded damages in two landmark cases brought by the families of men forced to work in Japan. Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals were ordered to pay Won100m to each of four plaintiffs, after Korea’s Supreme Court ruled that a 1965 treaty that settled compensation claims did not rule out claims from individual citizens. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries was ordered to pay $71,800 to each of five plaintiffs, all of whom were deceased.

去年7月，韩国法院在两起由韩国被掳赴日劳工家人提起的具有里程碑意义的案件中判决，日本企业应向原告支付损害赔偿。新日铁住金(Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals)被勒令向4名原告每人支付1亿韩元。之前韩国最高法院做出判决，个人索赔权不会因1965年日韩两国政府签署的解决赔偿请求的协议而失效。三菱重工(Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)被判向5名原告每人支付7.18万美元，尽管判决时这5名原告均已不在人世。

China absolved Japan of claims in a 1972 communiqué that normalised relations and allowed Japanese investment and development aid to flow into China.

1972年，中国与日本实现邦交正常化，并在公报中宣布放弃对日本的战争赔偿要求，日本的投资和发展援助也因此流入中国。

The inability to sue the Japanese state has frustrated advocates for China’s remaining comfort women, a euphemism for women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military.

由于不能起诉日本这个国家，那些维护中国依然健在的“慰安妇”利益的人士感到失望。“慰安妇”是在日本军方强迫下沦为性奴的女性的委婉称呼。

But it is unlikely any regional government would want to throw open its courts entirely to complicated and overlapping claims. For instance, factories built by Japanese in occupied Manchuria were dismantled and hauled off by Russian armies after the war. A French-built railway through Yunnan was seized by the Japanese, nationalised by China and bombed during a Chinese-Vietnamese border clash.

不过，任何国家的政府都不太可能想让本国法院彻底向复杂且重叠的索赔请求敞开大门。例如，二战结束后，日本在被占领的满洲建造的工厂被苏联军队拆毁，设备也被他们运走。而当年法国建造的一条穿越云南的铁路先是被日本霸占，后被中国收归国有，最后在中越边境冲突中被炸毁。