Japan PM to express WWII remorse

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe received a report from his advisory panel on how to proceed in his address next week to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, which appears to play down apologies by the country’s previous prime ministers for Japan’s wartime atrocities.

China hopes that Abe will take advantage of the opportunity and work for genuine reconciliation with the people of the neighboring Asian states that were invaded or colonized by Japan during the war, Wang told reporters Thursday night.

Without mentioning Beijing or Seoul by name, the report says, “It is a major premise that the perpetrators compensate the victims with a honest attitude, but it is also important for the victims to accept these feelings of the perpetrators with a heart of tolerance”.

“In the call, the Vice President underscored our strong commitment to the US-Japan alliance and thanked Prime Minister Abe for his enduring partnership”, it said.

The report released Thursday did not specify what Abe should say in a planned statement marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II next week, or whether he should use the same wording to convey an apology as was used in 1995 by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

The US response comes after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed deep concern about the WikiLeaks reports.

“It can not be said that reconciliation with China and the Republic of Korea has been fully achieved”.

“After the Manchurian Incident (in 1931) Japan expanded its aggression against the continent, deviated from the post-World War One shift toward self-determination, outlawry of war, democratization, and an emphasis on economic development… and caused much harm to various countries, largely in Asia, through a reckless war”, the advisers said, referring to the trigger for Japan’s conquest of then-Manchuria in northeast China.

In the report, the panel footnoted that during the discussions, dissenting views were expressed over the use of the word “aggression”. If this is Japan’s perception over its past wrongdoings, it will be unacceptable for those who suffered greatly from Japan’s wartime aggression and it is a risky signal for the world as Japan is pushing forward a series of security bills allowing its troops to engage in armed conflicts, for the first time in 70 years under the same banner of self-defense. For the Japan-South Korea relationship, the panel stressed the need for both countries to “develop measures for reconciliation and share the responsibility for them”. I’m not going to project on what he may or may not say.

The statement said the panel’s report, which was submitted to Abe on the same day, “goes against the official pledge of the Japanese government to carry on the historical understanding of past Cabinets”.

The so-called Murayama Statement said Japan “through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations”.

■ Based on deep remorse over the war, Japan has been reborn as a country that is completely different from what it was.

The report also touches on Japan’s proactive contribution to the establishment of a postwar global order based on peace, democracy and free trade.

Abe has said he was not necessarily standing by the Murayama statement, although he later promised to keep it when China and South Korea protested.