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Chinese Agency Criticizes Japanese Parliamentary Resolution Marking War's End

Posted on: Thursday, 4 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

Text of Xinhua current events commentary article by Xinhua reporter Lu Yongjian entitled: "Turning back the clock has no future" by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Beijing, 3 August: On 2 August, Japan's Lower House passed the "Resolution on the 60th Anniversary of the War's End," which completely failed to mention "colonialist rule", "aggressive behaviours," and other phrases when discussing the understanding of history; its attitude on historical reflections was a big step backward compared with the "Resolution on the 50th Anniversary of the War's End" passed by the 1995 parliament. In this connection, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Japan should deeply reflect on its history of militaristic aggression.

On 1 August, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's New Constitution Drafting Committee published the revised draft of the constitution, which completely altered Section 2 of Article 9 of Japan's constitution regarding "non-maintenance of armed forces," changing it to "maintaining a self-defence force to ensure the country's peace and independence as well as security of its people." This runs counter to the wishes of more than 3,000 organizations in Japan that resolutely defend Japan's current constitution of peace.

Against the backdrop of worldwide commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the victory in the war against fascism, many political figures, scholars, and common people are directly facing the harsh reality, reviewing history, and reflecting on the past with the goal of safeguarding peace. However, for some time, some political forces in Japan have done their best to deny, play down, or even beautify the history of aggression. There is no future to this approach of turning back the clock on historical issues.

The "Resolution on the Pledge to Further Contribute to Building International Peace On Occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations' Founding, War's End and Atomic Bombing in Japan" passed by Japan's Lower House shows its inclination by its title. The war of aggression started by Japanese militarism brought untold miseries to the people of China and other neighbouring Asian countries, and also subjected the Japanese people to tremendous disasters. Japan's tragedy of being attacked by atomic bombs during WWII was directly related to its launching of the war of aggression. Japan was first a victimizer and aggressor country, which later became a victim country. It is a regret that some political forces in Japan have constantly played down Japan's responsibilities for its crime as a starter of WWII, emphasizing only the sorrow caused by atomic bombing. As a result, Japan has not received the world's understanding, and has aroused vigilance in neighbouring countries.

Only by facing history and admitting the responsibilities of the crime can Japan truly receive the neighbouring countries' pardon and the world's respect. German Ambassador to China Stanzel said a few days ago that in reviewing Germany's experience of blending into Europe on occasion of the 60th anniversary of the world's victory in the war against fascism, the crux lies in reflecting on the history and shouldering the responsibilities. After WWII, Germany first admitted that it was the chief culprit of the war, which led other European countries to begin to show understanding towards Germany. After that, Germany actively carried out activities of exchanges with young people of all European countries, and supported the establishment of combined committees of experts of all countries to jointly compile historical textbooks. Japan should deeply reflect on and learn from all this.

To prevent a country from going the wrong way not only needs the resolve and actions of that country's people, but also the support and guidance by the international community; this was Germany's understanding after making profound reflections. We have noticed that in Japan, many people have soberly faced and reflected on history; these Japanese people represent Japan's future. In coping with the atomic bombing, the men of insight in Japan pointed out that Japan's current constitution of peace was created at the cost of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and that Japan, having paid a tragic price for that, will certainly combine the elimination of nuclear weapons with the protection of Japan's constitution of peace. Japan's Dokkyo University Professor Shoichi Koseki called the constitution of peace the foundation of Japan's coexistence with the other Asian-Pacific countries. At present, more than 3,000 organizations have been established throughout Japan and they urge the Japanese people to take actions to resolutely defend Japan's constitution of peace, and guarantee that the tragedy of war will not recur.

In Japan, the struggle is ongoing between the peace-loving people and the right-wing forces; when the erroneous thinking gains prevalence, or even when the war maniacs dominate this country, Japan will drag its neighbouring countries into the disaster of war. Therefore, waging struggle against the erroneous thinking is not only the obligation of the men of insight in Japan, but also the responsibility of the peace-loving people of the whole world.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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