A JAPANESE businessman made a public apology yesterday afternoon after nearly 1,000 workers of a factory in Dongguan protested against wartime remarks he had made earlier in the day, according to the local government.

    Kataoka Masataka, head of Japan’s Alps Electric Co. Ltd., the investor of Rihua Electronics Factory in Chang’an Township, Dongguan, told several executives during a meeting yesterday morning that Japan did not invade China during World War II, but rather emancipated China from American colonialism, the Chang’an government said in a statement.

    Nearly 1,000 workers amassed in the factory in the afternoon to protest against his remarks, demanding an apology. Kataoka bowed to apologize to the workers at about 2:50 p.m., saying he took back what he had said. Order has restored in the factory, the statement said.

    The Japanese invasion from 1937 to 1945 resulted in 35 million Chinese casualties and US$600 billion worth of economic losses for China, according to government statistics. (Mu Zi)