Australian expert calls on Japan to 'get message on history right'

CANBERRA - Japan should get the message on history right not just for the justice and dignity of victims of Japanese imperial aggression, but also for the sake of bridging the trust deficit in Northeast Asia, an Australian expert wrote on Monday.

In a lead article on the latest edition of the Australian National University's East Asia Forum published online on Monday, Peter Drysdale, an economist at the ANU, pointed out that the "trust deficit" has been a bottleneck to Northeast Asia's progress on a host of critical issues.

Drysdale has been studying Japanese and Chinese economies for decades and is the so-called intellectual founding father of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation).

"On Aug 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito made his 'jewel voice broadcast' of surrender to the Allied forces, accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and ending World War II in the Pacific. After 70 years, some might wonder what's the big deal over recognizing wartime history," Drysdale wrote.

"Both the baggage of history and the way in which the current Japanese leadership has dealt with it bedevils more productive and stable relations across the East Asian region. It sits like a dead weight upon progress on most dimensions of relations among Northeast Asia's three main powers -- China, Japan and South Korea -- but it especially weighs heavily on trust in political security relations as the Abe administration tries to explain its new security bills to its neighbors and at home."

"It impacts on America's relations with these countries and confounds US strategies for security and stability in the region. It sucks the oxygen out of the vibrant engine that these three economies collectively have the potential to become through deeper economic integration, not just for the East Asian region but also for the global economy," he added.

As Abe is expected to deliver his planned speech this week, the expectations surrounding his commemorative speech and exactly how he will address Japan's wartime history are under more intense scrutiny than on previous anniversaries.

"The 70th anniversary is a major inflection point in the memory of colonial and wartime history," the professor wrote in the article.

"Given Abe's personal sentiments, his December 2013 Yasukuni Shrine visit, and his proclaimed desire to escape from ' masochistic history' and restore a sense of pride in Japan, there continues to be anxiety in Japan, in the region and elsewhere about how well his words will be directed to high purpose."

He also reminded the readers that Abe is "no political novice" who secured his first stint as prime minister based on a promise to fix the China relationship after the freeze of relations when Junichiro Koizumi were prime minister.

Drysdale also noted that Abe stepped up to acknowledge Japanese transgressions in Kokoda and Sandakan in the Pacific during a speech to Australia's parliament in Canberra in July 2014 offering his "sincere condolences" and bit the bullet on Pearl Harbor, offering his "deep repentance" over Bataan Corregidor and the Coral Sea in his April address to the US Congress in Washington.

"It now seems certain that his anniversary statement will be subject to cabinet clearance (including by pacifist-leaning coalition partner, Komeito)," the article said.