In 1959, a vast new oil field in the grasslands of northeast China, in Manchuria, was discovered.

FORBES: Oil and China

Japan's was a war of self-defence, protecting its perfectly legal territories of Manchuria (North-East China) and Korea against Communist conspirators.

ECONOMIST: Japan��s history wars erupt again

Most of the unit's activities took place in occupied Manchuria, in north-east China, where the victims of its ghastly experiments were Chinese, Koreans and Russians.

ECONOMIST: Digging up Japan's past: Deafening silence | The

On present trends in trade and investment, not only Rason but North Korea as a whole, which is rich in minerals and offers far cheaper labour than China, will increasingly become part of Chinese efforts to revive the area once known as Manchuria.

ECONOMIST: Letters