(Transcript from World News Radio)
Australia's first federal politician *born and raised in China has used his debut speech in the Senate to highlight Japanese atrocities in his birthplace of Nanjing in the late 1930s.
He also took the opportunity to call for more support for farming and other businesses in the state he represents, Western Australia.
Nikki Canning, with this report prepared by Mati Safi.
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Dio Wang started his term as one of the three Senators from the Palmer United Party in July.
It's taken almost three months before he got the chance to deliver his first speech.
He's devoted several minutes of it to his Chinese origins, and particularly to his birthplace, Nanjing.
The civil engineer, who migrated to Australia after studying urban planning at Melbourne University, says Nanjing is one of many historical cities around the world that have seen both glorious and dark moments.
But he says the worst period in Nanjing was from mid-December 1937 until late January 1938 - when it was occupied by Japanese troops.
"A six week-long massacre, a six week-long nightmare, and a six week-long living hell. For China, it may be the longest six weeks in its entire history. But for the Imperial Japanese Army, it was never too short to torture, to rape, to murder 300,000 innocent men, women and children. Three hundred thousand lives were taken by indescribable brutality. Three hundred thousand souls were taken by unspeakable evil."
Recently, Prime Minister Tony Abbott stated that Australians admired the skill and the sense of honour that the Japanese military showed during the Second World War.
But Senator Wang says 'honourable' is the wrong word to use to describe Japanese invaders.
"My colleagues, maybe Australia received a better bunch of imperial Japanese invaders that some could even suggest they were 'honourable'. But I believe the right word should not be 'honourable', it has to be 'horrible'. What Nanjing witnessed in those six weeks was three hundred thousand times worse than horrible."
33-year-old Dio Wang was born more than 40 years after what's become known as the Rape of Nanjing.
But he says the events that occurred under Japanese occupation have helped form his character.
"Nanjing is always resilient. Having endured many ups and downs, Nanjing learnt to be always calm. Having survived one of the most barbaric humanitarian crises in World War II, Nanjing understands to the fullest extent how precious peace is. This is the city where I lived for 22 years. I do not claim I have all the virtues it holds, but all those 22 years no doubt helped in shaping my personality."
Senator Wang also used his maiden speech to address problems faced by various businesses in Western Australia.
He says they need to be freed from what he calls ill-designed government policies that force them to fail.
"With huge potential in mining, agriculture, tourism and so on yet to be exploited, we could contribute even more if there were enough funding to facilitate further economic growth in Western Australia."
Senator Wang says Australia needs a national investment fund, to help its agriculture industries.
He says the fund could lend money to farmers who struggle to get loans from profit-driven banks.
And he says it could coordinate research projects, to allow farmers to take advantage of new technologies.
"In a time when labour and energy costs are so high, we need new technologies to reduce our production costs. In a time when farmers are struggling, we need new technologies to overcome difficulties caused by nature and of course by politicians. In a time when we promote environmental sustainability, we need new technologies to make renewable energy even cheaper and more readily available."
Senator Wang ended his speech by expressing thanks to Clive Palmer for setting up the Palmer United Party, and for giving him his personal support.
"I thank Clive for his continuous support over the years in both the corporate world and the political arena so I can have a crack at the bamboo ceiling. I thank all our supporters, volunteers, workers and 2013 election candidates for their tireless work and their trust in us. We all want a strong, wealthy and equal country, and that is what we are committed to."
* Penny Wong is of Chinese descent, but born in Malaysia; while Liberal Senator Tsebin Tchen (1999-2005) was born in China but left when he was two.
