The ghosts of history still hang over East Asia

Antonio Chun-nan Chiang, Project Syndicate

This year marks the centenary of the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, and on Aug. 15 many countries will commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of the end of World War II in the Pacific. Of course, Japan's military dominance in East Asia -- which began with the Russo-Japanese War and led to World War II -- is no more. The ghosts of this history still hang over in East Asia, with each country struggling to find ways to deal with the past.

China is a benchmark. Over the centuries, Japan and China have taken turns dominating East Asia, and both now seek to assert regional hegemony. Historically, the Korean Peninsula was the playground for this rivalry, but, with North and South Korea appearing to make peace with each other, South Korea is also staking a claim to regional influence.

Resentment over past wrongs buttresses all of these rival claims for influence.

During his visit to the U.S. in June, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun told President Bush that China had invaded Korea over 100 times in history. His remarks shocked China, which views itself as the victim of invasions (most humiliatingly, by the Japanese) and has forgotten its own history of bullying its neighbors.

Roh also openly criticizes Japan for its cowardice in not facing up to its historic war crimes, saying that it does not deserve a seat on the UN Security Council. Japan long colonized Korea, and during World War II, Koreans were forced to join the Japanese Imperial Army -- a situation similar to that of Taiwan. But, whereas the struggle between China and Japan for dominance over Korea was the focal point of the East Asian drama, Taiwan was but a side-show, a mere outpost to the Imperial Qing Dynasty, while Korea was a vassal paying tribute to China.

After defeating both the Qing dynasty and Russia, Japan not only gained control over the Korean Peninsula, but also extended its reach deep into Northeast China. As East Asia's "Big Brother," Japan's Kwantung Army founded Manchukuo, in Northeast China, in 1932. Japan wanted Manchukuo to become what India was to Britain or what Algeria was to France -- a crown jewel of the empire -- and sent a million immigrants (800,000 of whom died there after post-war Manchukuo was taken over by Russia) while investing huge sums to develop heavy industry.

Japan's Nanjing government in China, under Wang Jingwei, was like Germany's Vichy government in France, under Henri Philippe Pitain. Both men were treated as traitors after the war ended. By contrast, as a result of long colonization, Taiwan and Korea had developed a complex of both resistance and reliance towards their rulers. With only a few exceptions, the local elite was assimilated into the colonial system.

But the outcome was similar throughout the region following Japan's defeat in World War II. Civil war broke out in China, the Korean Peninsula was divided, and the other Southeast Asian colonies, with the sole exception of Thailand, resorted to military force to achieve independence.

China has still failed to face up to the history of Manchukuo and its civil war, not to mention opening the secret files concerning Mao Zedong's decision to send almost a million soldiers into the Korean War. South Korea initiated talks with the Japanese government only recently on retrieving the remains of Korean slave workers. More than 20,000 Taiwanese and about the same amount of Korean soldiers who died for the Imperial Japan are worshiped in Japan's Yasukuni shrine. And Recently, some civil groups in both countries started to demand the return of the remains of their countries' soldiers interred at Yasukuni.

Taiwan's delayed re-awakening reflects the early reliance of its nationalist government on protection from the U.S. and assistance from Japan. Chiang Kaishek had no choice but to return good for evil by abjuring compensation claims on Japan, as well as by secretly arranging for the Kwantung Army's ex-Chief of Staff to join Taiwan's efforts in confronting the Communists. Japan has never apologized for its colonization of Taiwan, and Taiwanese had no opportunity for historical reflection during 30 years of martial law.

This spring, anti-Japanese demonstrations broke out almost simultaneously in both China and Korea, with both countries seeking to place the memory of Japanese dominance in the service of building a new national identity and strategic position. So we can expect that, like the events in May to mark 60 years since the end of World War II in Europe, Asia's commemoration on Aug. 15 of the end of the war in the Pacific will expose lingering -- and still raw -- historical sensitivities. Unlike in Europe, however, historical memory in Asia continues to be wedded to current strategic ambitions.

One hundred years ago, the rise of Japanese military power changed the fate of Asia. Sixty years ago, the demise of Japanese power changed Asia's fate again. Today, as China rises in wealth and power to rival Japan, Asia holds its breath, waiting for the ghosts of history to disappear.

The writer was Deputy Secretary General of Taiwan's National Security Council from 2000 to 2004.