TAIPEI - Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou on Saturday night urged Japanese who deny the Nanjing Massacre to face the history and acknowledge the mistake.

In a statement released by his office, Ma said it is regretful that some Japanese people still dodge, play down and even deny the massacre committed by invading Japanese troops during World War II.

Lessons drawn from the history should never be forgotten, Ma said.

He urged countries to treasure the peace in East Asia and try to avoid escalating conflicts in an effort "to spare our offspring the cruelty of war and to stop recurrence of such tragedies."

Japanese troops captured Nanjing, then China's capital, on Dec. 13 of 1937 and started a 40-odd-day slaughter. More than 300,000 Chinese soldiers, who had laid down their arms, and civilians were murdered and about 20,000 women were raped.

Chinese mainland held a state commemoration for the first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims on Saturday. Similar ceremonies were held in Hong Kong and Macao.