Abe on Friday expressed “utmost grief” for the suffering Japan inflicted in the war, but said future generations should not have to keep apologising for the mistakes of the past. Abe has a point when he says that Japan should not have to endlessly suffer the humiliating indignity of prostrating itself in front of the rest of Asia for its wartime misdeeds, but he and other revisionists bear significant responsibility for ensuring that Japan’s shared history with China and the Koreas remains such a potent source of tension.
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On the fact that the key words used in the statement represent indirect expressions rather than those of Abe’s own, Yamaguchi said, “It is clear that he pledged that Japan will never use force or threaten again”. This means he has adhered to the views expressed in past statements made by Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the war’s end and by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the 60th anniversary.
About 7,000 people, including relatives of Japanese military war casualties attended the national commemoration ceremony observing a moment of silence in the Nippon Budokan hall in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward, the Japan Times reported.
“(But) yesterday (Abe) told me his sense of gratefulness for the spirits (of the war dead) and his feelings for Yasukuni have not changed”, Hagiuda said, adding he made an offering to Yasukuni on behalf of Abe.
The statement was closely watched in both China and South Korea. As a friend related, Abe’s statement is, “a watered-down version of the Yushukan – the military museum adjacent to Yasukuni Shrine – version of the road to war, a recognition that things were probably tough for a lot of women, a teeth-clenched repetition of stuff that earlier Prime Ministers said”.
But South Korean President Park Geun-hye said the Japanese premier’s remarks “left much to be desired”.
Resentment over invasion, occupation and atrocities by the Japanese Imperial Army before and during the war still bedevils relations between Japan and the East Asian countries seven decades after the war ended on August 15, 1945.
“Looking back at the past, with deep remorse over the war, I sincerely wish the calamities of the war will never be repeated”, he said.
The phrases “aggression”, “colonial rule”, “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” were all part of Japan’s landmark apology on the 50th anniversary of the war’s end in 1995.
While noting Shinzo Abe’s vow that previous national apologies for Japan’s aggression would stand, Park said Tokyo must follow-up such words with “sincere actions” that could earn the trust of its Asian neighbours.
Late on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Japan had missed a chance to make a “sincere apology” for its actions, without mentioning Abe by name.
Abe hinted at the comfort women issue, saying Japan needed to remember the “women behind the battlefields whose honor and dignity were severely injured”.
China’s Foreign Ministry said that Saturday’s visit “reflects Japan’s seriously wrong attitude to historical issues”, while protesters at a Seoul rally burnt pictures of Abe.
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South Korea’s Park said “we hope that the Japanese government will solve the issues related to “comfort women” quickly and properly”.
