The Japanese government recently announced that its Asian Women's Fund would complete its historic mission by March 31, and that by May it would wrap up awarding compensation to South Korean and Taiwanese women forced into prostitution for Japanese soldiers during World War II.
Back in 1995, as voices around the world began to call for Japan to address the issue of "comfort women," the government decided to establish the fund as a private organization. To prevent the Japanese government from having to own up to its responsibility for provoking war in the Pacific and offer an official apology, the foundation traveled across Asia and began offering victims ?2 million (US$17,150) apiece in compensation.
Not a single Taiwanese woman accepted the money, however. Instead, they said they would only accept a formal apology and financial compensation from the Japanese government.
The program will come to a close without the Japanese government having fully apologized to its victims and with only 188 comfort women accepting the money. While answering questions during a press conference on March 1, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that evidence that Japanese troops had forced Asian women into prostitution during World War II was lacking.
The Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation says that the Japanese government is unwilling to apologize for the country's terrible acts during the war. All its efforts, the group says, are aimed at denying the historical fact that it invaded Asian countries, smoothing over Japanese history and clearing a path toward its goal of returning to militarism.
Abe's comments provoked a fierce response from the international community, as governments around the world expressed their displeasure. Spokespeople for the Japanese government tried to downplay the incident, but Abe's comments were no mere slip of the tongue. Since becoming prime minister last Sept. 26, members of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) have repeatedly attacked former chief Cabinet secretary Yohei Kono for accepting a report in 1993 detailing the existence of comfort women.
Last October, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shimomura Hakubun said it was necessary to revise what Yohei had said. A group of members of parliament called the "Committee on Considering Japan's Future and History Education" says that the comfort women were never coerced by the Japanese military and has asked that the government issue a new statement that eliminates their description as military attendants.
The US Congress has adopted, on four occasions, resolutions on comfort women. On Jan. 31, Michael Honda, a Japanese-American congressman from California, proposed yet another. In addition to demanding that the Japanese government admit its criminal behavior in keeping comfort women during World War II, teach this historical fact to present and future generations and publicly declare that it will never commit such a crime again, Honda's proposed resolution adds that the Japanese prime minister should, as the head of state, offer an official apology.
This sparked a public relations offensive from the Abe administration both in Japan and abroad, as it said that this resolution amounted to interference in Japan's internal affairs. The LDP also denied that the existence of comfort women was an "objective fact."
The LDP's refusal to recognize the truth about comfort women is part of the plan by right-wing officials to engage in historical revisionism and to deny the role played by Japan in World War II.
Many private groups began to seek justice for comfort women in the 1990s. In January, during a meeting of Asian countries seeking reparations, the Taipei Women's Rescue Foundation joined representatives from Asia, the US and the Netherlands in jointly petitioning US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to fight in the name of justice for comfort women.
When a Japanese prime minister establishes a private foundation so as to avoid having to own up to the government's responsibility for comfort women, make an apology and offer compensation, an angry response from the victims in Taiwan should be expected. And Taiwanese authorities should not remain silent.
Originally, Taiwan counted 58 comfort women who survived the war. Only 27 are left. For these women, the establishment of the Asian Women's Fund and Abe's words are tantamount to a second injustice by denying the suffering that they endured all those years.
Japan is still unwilling to admit its wartime responsibility and offer compensation, but despite their advancing age and deteriorating health, these women remain resolute in their convictions. The Taiwanese government should condemn the Japanese government's attitude and demand an official apology and appropriate compensation for the victims.
Chou Ching-yuan is a researcher at the Women's Rescue Foundation of Taipei.
Translated by Marc Langer
Congressman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) and Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) led a bipartisan delegation to Taiwan in late February. During their various meetings with Taiwan’s leaders, this delegation never missed an opportunity to emphasize the strength of their cross-party consensus on issues relating to Taiwan and China. Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi are leaders of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Their instruction upon taking the reins of the committee was to preserve China issues as a last bastion of bipartisanship in an otherwise deeply divided Washington. They have largely upheld their pledge. But in doing so, they have performed the
It is well known that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) ambition is to rejuvenate the Chinese nation by unification of Taiwan, either peacefully or by force. The peaceful option has virtually gone out of the window with the last presidential elections in Taiwan. Taiwanese, especially the youth, are resolved not to be part of China. With time, this resolve has grown politically stronger. It leaves China with reunification by force as the default option. Everyone tells me how and when mighty China would invade and overpower tiny Taiwan. However, I have rarely been told that Taiwan could be defended to
It should have been Maestro’s night. It is hard to envision a film more Oscar-friendly than Bradley Cooper’s exploration of the life and loves of famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein. It was a prestige biopic, a longtime route to acting trophies and more (see Darkest Hour, Lincoln, and Milk). The film was a music biopic, a subgenre with an even richer history of award-winning films such as Ray, Walk the Line and Bohemian Rhapsody. What is more, it was the passion project of cowriter, producer, director and actor Bradley Cooper. That is the kind of multitasking -for-his-art overachievement that Oscar
Chinese villages are being built in the disputed zone between Bhutan and China. Last month, Chinese settlers, holding photographs of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), moved into their new homes on land that was not Xi’s to give. These residents are part of the Chinese government’s resettlement program, relocating Tibetan families into the territory China claims. China shares land borders with 15 countries and sea borders with eight, and is involved in many disputes. Land disputes include the ones with Bhutan (Doklam plateau), India (Arunachal Pradesh, Aksai Chin) and Nepal (near Dolakha and Solukhumbu districts). Maritime disputes in the South China