Abe advisers disagree on aggression
Print Edition
ADVISERS to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agree that the country caused much damage in Asia through a reckless war but quibble over the term aggression to describe its actions.
Their views are contained in a report issued yesterday that is meant to serve as reference for a statement by Abe marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and which covers over 100 years of history in 38 pages.
The report refers to Japan’s aggression in China after 1931 but notes that some advisers objected to the term because of the lack of a “definition” in international law and a reluctance to single out Japan when other nations engaged in similar acts.
Yesterday, the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Abe repeated that he upholds previous statements on the war, which include a 1995 “heartfelt apology” by then Premier Tomiichi Murayama.
But he has also questioned use of the term aggression — a key phrase in the Murayama statement — and his stated desire to issue forward-looking comments in his own words has raised concerns that he wants to dilute past apologies. That would spark anger in China and South Korea, which both suffered under Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonized from 1910 to 1945. It could also disappoint Japan’s ally the United States.
In the 1995 statement, Murayama stated his feelings of “deep remorse” and said that Japan “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations”
In yesterday’s report, Abe’s advisers said: “After the Manchurian Incident (in 1931) Japan expanded its aggression against the continent ... and caused much harm to various countries, largely in Asia, through a reckless war.”
They were referring to the trigger for Japan’s conquest of then-Manchuria in northeast China.
“In China, in particular, this created many victims across wide areas,” they said.
Still, the advisers added, in the second half of the 20th century, “based on the deep remorse over the war, Japan has been reborn as a country that is completely different.”
They criticized South Korean President Park Geun-hye for what they termed a harsh and emotional attitude towards Japan.
Ties with South Korea have been strained by a territorial dispute and a feud over Korean “comfort women” forced to work in Japan’s wartime military brothels.
Abe is preparing remarks for the 70th anniversary of the end of the war which are expected to be released before August 15, the date Japan announced its surrender to the Allies.
“I will express remorse over the past war, our post-war path as a pacifist nation, and how Japan should further contribute to the Asia-Pacific region and the world in the future,” Abe told reporters yesterday.
He also said he would follow previous explicit prime ministerial apologies over Japan’s past “as a whole.”
In a landmark address to a joint session of the US Congress in April, Abe expressed his “deep remorse” over Japan’s actions toward neighboring nations during World War II.
But he stopped short of a full apology, especially over the forced recruitment of “comfort women” to serve Japanese soldiers.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
