Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakue apologizes to Chinese President Mao Zedong for his country’s actions in China during the war. Mao, who has a macabre sense of humor, tells his foreign guest not to worry: if it weren’t for the Japanese, the Communists would never have taken power. And Mao was right: by fatally striking the Nationalists, the Japanese had weakened the main obstacle to Mao’s seizure of power.
