New York Times: British "Close Allies of Japan" During WWII Occupation of Hong Kong

What is the writer of this article in yesterday's New York Times talking about?

Historians estimate that as many as 10,000 women were raped in the first few days after the Japanese capture of Hong Kong on Christmas Day in 1941. The Japanese turned the city into a military base, summarily executing many residents suspected of opposing them.

To conserve food for soldiers, the Japanese cut rations for civilians to starvation levels and deported many to famine- and disease-ridden areas of the mainland, and even dumped some on barren islands, said Philip Snow, a prominent historian of the period.

The territory’s population dropped to 600,000 by the end of the war, from 1.6 million before the invasion, Mr. Snow said, adding that many of those deported had died.

Hong Kong schools teach almost nothing about the occupation, a legacy of the British, who were close allies of Japan.

????