Japan fails to apologize to Asia<\/p>\n
Japan's tripartite ruling coalition has reached a compromise
\nat the last minute, enabling it to keep its promise to draft a
\nresolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ending of
\nWorld War II. The resolution must be passed before the Diet
\nsession ends on June 18, but Jakarta Post Asia correspondent
\nHarvey Stockwin anticipates that, before then, more Asian voices
\nwill condemn rather than praise it.<\/p>\n
HONG KONG (JP): The present Japanese ruling coalition has
\nnarrowly averted breaking up over the issue of World War II but
\nin doing so has avoided properly apologizing to Asian countries
\nfor Japanese atrocities during that conflict.<\/p>\n
The government, led by Socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi
\nMurayama, is now all set to pass a parliamentary resolution which
\nin effect says that Japan feels remorse because it copied the
\nEuropean powers and the United States in seeking to possess
\ncolonies in Asia.<\/p>\n
The fire bombing of the Japanese Cultural Center in Seoul by
\ninfuriated South Korean students, in a related incident, bears
\neloquent testimony to a sad and avoidable reality: Japanese
\npoliticians and bureaucrats, far from lessening the burden of
\nhistory carried by Japan for its past misdeeds have almost
\ncertainly increased it.<\/p>\n
When the three political parties in Murayama's coalition came
\ntogether in July last year they pledged to pass a resolution
\ncommemorating the 50th anniversary of the ending of the war in
\nthe Pacific.<\/p>\n
As has been reported by the Jakarta Post, for the last three
\nmonths or so there has been a very real risk that the coalition
\nwould break apart over its irreconcilable views of history.<\/p>\n
Murayama's Socialist Party wanted a clear cut apology for the
\npast, while the largest party in the coalition, the Liberal
\nDemocratic Party (LDP) was opposed. What were earlier regarded as
\nright wing views on the war are now clearly in the ascendant
\nwithin the LDP. Essentially these views boil down to believing
\nthat Japan did little or nothing for which it needs to apologize.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, the LDP attitudes are completely unacceptable
\nto countries such as China, Korea, Singapore and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
In the last 12 months the Socialists have been forced to
\nabandon long held principles such as their past refusal to
\nrecognize the constitutionality of Japan's military forces, or
\ntheir non-acceptance of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. Now they
\nhave virtually given in over their view of the war, too.<\/p>\n
After a protracted period of brinkmanship between the three
\nparties, and with the end of the current Diet (parliament)
\nsession due on June 18, the three parties finally agreed on a
\nfive paragraph compromise resolution late Tuesday, June 6, which
\nreads in full:<\/p>\n
This Diet, in the 50th year since the war, offers its sincere
\ntribute to the memory of the war dead throughout the world and
\nvictims who have suffered because of war and other deeds.<\/p>\n
Recalling the many instances of colonial rule and acts of
\naggression in the modern history of the world, we recognize those
\nacts which our country carried out and the unbearable suffering
\ninflicted on the peoples of other countries, particularly the
\nnations of Asia, and express deep remorse.<\/p>\n
Transcending differences in historical views of the past war,
\nwe must humbly learn the lessons of history and build a peaceful
\ninternational community.<\/p>\n
This Diet links hands with the countries of the world, under
\nthe doctrine of lasting peace enshrined in the Constitution of
\nJapan, and expresses its determination to open up a future of
\ncoexistence for humankind.<\/p>\n
We affirm the above.<\/p>\n
Clearly, in the second crucial but highly ambiguous paragraph,
\nthe draft resolution implies that Japan was only doing what other
\npowerful countries had done.<\/p>\n
The paragraph indicates that the LDP view, that Japan, far
\nfrom fighting a war of aggression was actually fighting a war of
\nliberation for Asia against the white race, carried the most
\nweight in the coalition negotiations over the resolution.<\/p>\n
Put another way, Murayama and the Socialists preferred to stay
\nin power rather than stick by their past principles.<\/p>\n
At best, the resolution is successful as a domestic political
\ninstrument, since it allows the Socialists to claim that it
\nindicates regret for what happened, while the LDP will be able to
\nassert that the resolution justifies the Japanese war record.<\/p>\n
However as an instrument of foreign policy it appears
\nvalueless. China will not appreciate the whitewash of its
\n(probably excessive) claim of 35 million war dead as a result of
\nJapanese aggression. Several Southeast Asian nations will tend to
\nresent the implication that Japan was a liberating force in their
\nhistory. Most important, Japan's current allies in the
\neconomically developed world, particularly the United States,
\nwill, presumably, not be amused by the anti-white race theme in
\nthe LDP version of history. Above all, Americans will carefully
\nnote that there is not the slightest bit of Japanese remorse for
\nwhat they still regard as the treacherous Japanese sneak attack
\non Pearl Harbor, which brought the U.S. into World War II.<\/p>\n
In short, the draft Japanese resolution \"celebrates\" the 50th
\nanniversary of World War II by threatening to reduplicate the
\ncircumstances of mid-1945 when Japan stood alone against the
\ncivilized world.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in both parts of divided Korea views have been
\nillustrated by the wave of understandable outrage which has swept
\nSouth Korea following a speech by former Japanese Foreign
\nMinister and Deputy Prime Minister Michio Watanabe in which he
\nasserted that Japanese control over Korea 1910 to 1945 was not
\ncolonial rule because Japan annexed Korea \"amicably (by
\nagreement), not by force\".<\/p>\n
This travesty of the truth presented to a domestic Japanese
\naudience -- Watanabe did not expect to be reported in the outside
\nworld -- was quickly followed by spirited South Korean official
\nand unofficial denunciations, followed by an apology from
\nWatanabe. But, of course, what he originally said is a natural
\nextension of the view that Japan heroically fought a war of
\nliberation on Asia's behalf against the wicked West, and
\nWatanabe, and many LDP leaders like him, will go on believing
\nthat no matter how many apologies they make. In a similar vein,
\nsome LDP leaders will continue to occasionally assert that the
\nRape of Nanjing in 1937, or the Rape of Manila in 1945, never
\ntook place.<\/p>\n
For close observers of the Japanese scene what is deeply
\ndisturbing is not so much the ambiguous resolution itself --
\nthough that is deplorable -- but rather the ignorant, bigoted and
\ndownright mendacious political and historical views which lie
\nbehind it. For Japanese politicians to talk of \"humbly learning
\nthe lessons of history\" when they perennially and arrogantly
\nassert a self-righteous view of the past, a history that did not
\nhappen, is plain and simple hypocrisy.<\/p>\n
By June 1945, with Germany already defeated, Japan fought on
\nregardless, refusing to admit its follies and failures.<\/p>\n
In June 1995, Germany has long since accepted responsibility
\nfor its past, and satisfied the world with its apologies. But in
\nJapan today it is as if nothing has changed.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/japan-fails-to-apologize-to-asia-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}