Japanese politicians should stop distorting history and trying to revive their country's militarism and evil past

Whatever words and tactics Shinzo Abe uses for self-defense, the ultra-rightist Japanese prime minister should face up to history and bear in mind that paying respect to the feelings of Asian victims has never been an academic issue. Instead, it is a serious human, political and diplomatic issue.

For a period of time after his reelection as Japan's prime minister at the end of last year, Abe chose to conceal his extremist political inclinations and focus attention on domestic economic development in a bid to win public approval and consolidate his political support. Such an option helped Abe gain a high public approval rating, but his remarks and behavior concerning the historical issue in the following months have betrayed his innermost political nature.

At a parliamentary meeting on April 22, Abe said that he would reconsider the Murayama statement, in which former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama made an apology to Japan's Asian neighbors for the "enormous sufferings caused by Japan's colonial rule and aggression" during World War II. Abe also claimed he was doubtful of the exact definition of "aggression", given that "the definition of what constitutes aggression has yet to be established in academia or in the international community". Such provocative remarks came almost concurrently with a ritual offering Abe made at the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 Class-A war criminals are honored among ordinary war dead, and with his questioning the legitimacy of Japan's post-World War II pacifist constitution. At a ceremony held on April 28 to mark what Japan calls "Sovereignty Day", Abe and his cabinet members even shouted "long live the emperor", a slogan that was used by Japanese soldiers during World War II to show loyalty to the emperor, who was at the heart of Japan's wartime militaristic bureaucracy.

Not surprisingly, his words and doings angered China, the Republic of Korea and other of Japan's neighbors, but they also caused concern among Japanese media and some members of its ruling and opposition parties.

A variety of factors have been behind Japan's and also Abe's mounting rightist development. Japan's political instability and turbulence as a result of its frequent regime changes over the past decade and its lingering low economic growth since the busting of its real estate bubbles in the late 1980s, together with China's ascension to replace Japan as Asia's largest economy, have caused widespread anxiety among Japanese people and thus fuelled their nationalist tendencies. Abe's recent words and actions are not only a reflection of the ingrained distortion in his historical perspective, but also his active response to emerging rightist trends in Japan's politics and society.

Abe's recent words and actions on the historical issue reveal his attempt to invoke the specter of Japan's militarism. Aside from a ritual offering he made at the Yasukuni Shrine, a total of 168 Cabinet members paid a visit to the shrine on April 24, the largest collective visit made by Japanese politicians since 1989. Despite efforts to defend the visits, they were a blatant offense to the Asian countries and their peoples that were victims of Japanese military aggression.

Abe should know that Yasukuni remains a spiritual tumor left over from history in Japan's bid to construct a modern nation, as it has close links to Japan's imperialist wars and colonial rule over other countries. From the very beginning of its construction, the shrine has been used as a tool to instill militaristic and royalist ideas into Japan's people. Exhibitions at the shrine, which aim to beautify Japan's aggression and disseminate a wrong perspective of the past, are widely denounced by Asian people and those Japanese with a sense of justice. Abe should know that Yasukuni is not a purely religious issue and domestic affair. It is a political issue that is linked to the past sufferings Japan's militarism imposed on tens of millions of Asian people.

Abe's recent remarks and actions have also laid bare his intention to challenge the international order established after WWII so that Japan can escape the "historical handcuffs". But even the United States has expressed concerns over the dangerous tendency represented by Abe's ultra-rightist words and actions.

Abe's recent words and actions, like the "long live the emperor" slogan, are also a contravention of the international obligations Japan made after its defeat in WWII and international arrangements the US-led Allied forces made for it. When the Japanese government nationalized China's Diaoyu Islands in September last year, in a move to legalize its long-term occupation of China's territory, it was in clear defiance of the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation, two cornerstones of the post-WWII international order.

It is China's consistent belief that we should take history as guidance and look to the future. Regrettably, some Japanese want to distort history and take their country's evil past and traditions as a source of pride. This is absolutely unacceptable to all peace-loving people in Asia and the world as a whole. Politicians in Tokyo should reverse their wrong remarks and words and embark on the road of reconciliation with Asian people so that their country can enjoy a harmonious and peaceful coexistence with Asian neighbors.

The author is a Beijing-based scholar of international relations.

(China Daily USA 05/29/2013 page11)