An article published in the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun. The headline reads, "'Incredible Record' (in the Contest to Cut Down 100 People) —Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings". [File photo]

Nanjing, a city in east China's Jiangsu Province, will suspend official contact with Japanese city Nagoya, said a spokesman of the foreign affairs office of the Nanjing municipal government on February 21, 2012.

The municipal government made the decision after Nagoya's mayor Takashi Kawamura told a delegation from Nanjing that he thought the Nanjing Massacre "probably never happened".

The spokesman said Takashi Kawamura's remarks distorted historical facts and "seriously hurt the feelings of the Nanjing people."

China's Foreign Ministry said that China does not accept Nagoya Mayor's denial of the crime of the Nanjing Massacre at a regular press conference Monday in Beijing.

The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops occupied the then capital of China. More than 300,000 Chinese were believed murdered and thousands of women raped.

Nanjing and Nagoya established friendly ties in 1978.

(Xinhua contributed to this story)