The world should be increasingly vigilant against the moves of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe toward historical revisionism, as his expert panel set up to advise him on his statement to mark the end of World War II is nothing but a smoke screen serving to hide his real intentions.

According to the summary of the panel's second round debate on historical issues, the 16-member panel quibbled about "whether it is appropriate to determine that the war was an act of aggression based on present values", with the majority insisting that "Japan should not be the only one to blame as aggression was also conducted by the Allied Forces" and the word "aggression" should not be used in Abe's statement.

With no self-reflection in sight, the panel is seeking to ensure that Abe's historical revisionism makes a soft landing in his statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of the war against fascism.

The Japanese prime minister is a veteran of such tricks. A similar panel was also formed to debate whether the country should exercise the right to collective self-defense in a move to apparently give the opposition a channel to express itself, but in effect ensuring the results were entirely controllable and in line with his real purpose.

Sadly, Abe's conspiracy worked again to some extent, since all the liberal media in Japan, including those that always fiercely slam such historical revisionism, have become somewhat muted about denouncing the wrong viewpoints held by Abe and like-minded rightists.

Among the panel's five meetings, the recently concluded session was the only one focused on historical issues and the signal sent by its summary once again cast a gloomy shadow over Japan's relations with its neighbors.

The world is hoping that Abe's statement will serve as a positive political legacy for the future of Japan and its neighbors, rather than another attempt to rewrite his country's war past.

The above is an abridgement of a Xinhua News Agency commentary on March 26.

(China Daily USA 03/27/2015 page16)