World watching Abe's moves on Japan's past

The seventh meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, to be held in Seoul on March 21 after a hiatus of almost three years, is of great significance, because this year marks the 70th anniversary of the victory in the war against fascism and the triumph of the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

Like the trilateral meeting, Japan's neighborhood diplomacy too has hit a dead end in recent years owing to Tokyo's reluctance to face up to its war crimes. Ignoring the brutal nature of Japan's invasion of Asian countries before and during World War II, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been trying to whitewash Tokyo's war crimes instead of apologizing for them.

But the fact is, no matter how hard Japan tries to reinterpret and beautify its wartime history, neither the victim countries such as China and the ROK nor its close allies such as the United States seem pleased. This is because Japanese officials' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A war criminals and denial of "comfort women", forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army, are only making matters worse for Japan's credibility as a responsible country.

Japan could have been recognized as a responsible country had it followed Germany, its fascist ally during WWII, in apologizing for its war crimes. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel said during her visit to Japan last week, her country was re-accepted by Europe and then the international community, because it "did face its past squarely". She urged Japanese politicians to do the same by taking the lead to correct current wrong historical perception.

Merkel was right about the European reconciliation, for later it helped establish the European Union. None of these would have happened without Germany's sincere apology to all the victims of Nazism and, more importantly, its determination to break with its fascist past. For instance, any dangerous tendency to disown Nazi invasions of other countries or revive fascism is deemed as violation of Germany's criminal law.

In contrast, by acknowledging the importance of the upcoming ministerial meeting but refusing to reflect upon Japan's past atrocities, the Abe administration is playing with fire. Japanese right-wing forces' attempt to question the exact number of victims in the Nanjing Massacre so as to deny the war crime, for example, reveals their dirty intention of denying that Japan invaded and occupied China and carried out the heinous crimes.

The right-wing forces want more than that. They believe that, without being burdened by the guilt of invasion-related crimes, Japan will not have to befriend its Asian neighbors and thus can blame them for regional tensions that are thwarting East Asian unification.

This trick, however, is never going to work. The only option left for Japan, if it is to make diplomatic breakthroughs in Asia, is to accept its wartime crimes, fulfill all the responsibilities that come with that, and stop denying or beautifying its shameful history.

Abe has vowed to issue a statement on Aug 15 on the lessons of WWII, and the entire international community will be closely watching. Should he admit Japan's crimes when occupied neighboring countries, such as what former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama did in 1995, Abe could regain the trust of other countries. But if he merely focuses on Japan's contribution to the world or dares to play a verbal game with regard to his country's sordid wartime history, Japan will slide further into a diplomatic crisis.

The author is a researcher at the Japan Studies Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.