China on Wednesday criticized Japan's decision to withhold its funding to a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization program for apparently including documents on the infamous 1937 Nanjing Massacre.

Beijing has reportedly described the decision as an "irresponsible act."

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"What Japan has said and done once again lays bare their wrong attitude of not acknowledging history," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said during a news briefing. "Not paying fees to UNESCO to exert pressure is irresponsible. They will not achieve their aims."   

Hua added that the Nanjing Massacre was a serious war crime and a historical reality acknowledged by many international community.  

UNESCO established the "Memory of the World" program in 1992 to safeguard the important historical documents and materials. It announced to include materials about the Nanjing massacre in its program last year, much to the dismay of Japan.

Tokyo immediately protested the move, raising doubts over authenticity of the Nanjing Massacre documents handed over by the Chinese organization. It called for fair and transparent enquiry to validate the authenticity of such.

The Nanjing Massacre continues to cast shadow on the bilateral relations between Japan and China, with the latter accusing Tokyo of not acknowledging its wartime aggressions.

Beijing alleged that Japanese troops killed nearly 300,000 Chinese citizens in 1937 in then capital city of Nanjing. An international tribunal had put the death figure to 142,000.

However, Japan has always raised questions over these death numbers. Several Japanese politicians and scholars have accused China of exaggerating these numbers, while many have claimed that the massacre never happened at all.    

TagsNanjing Massacre, Japan, Japan and China, UNESCO