South Korea and China warned Japan on Tuesday not to backtrack on its apology issued 20 years ago over its wartime past when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe makes a statement on the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Japan’s ties with South Korea and China have worsened sharply as Abe has adopted a conservative agenda, including a less apologetic tone toward the wartime past and bolstering Japan’s defenses.
Abe has said he intends to express remorse over the war in his statement and his Cabinet upholds past apologies, including the landmark 1995 remarks by then-Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, but suggested he was not going to stick with the original wording.
“I would like to issue a statement with the focus not on whether the same terms will be used, but on the Abe government’s thought on the occasion,” Abe said on public broadcaster NHK over the weekend.
The anniversary of Japan’s defeat falls on Aug. 15, but no date has been set for the release of the Abe statement.
South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Noh Kwang-il has already accused Japan of trying to “undermine” a separate 1993 apology to Asian women it forced to work as wartime sex slaves in Japanese brothels by conducting a review of it last year.
The Japanese government must remember “the historic significance of every single passage” used in past apologies by former leaders, Noh told a news briefing on Tuesday.
“It should reflect carefully, looking squarely at history how the international community and neighboring countries will react if it takes key parts out from statements by Murayama on the 50th anniversary and Junichiro Koizumi on the 60th,” he said.
Koizumi issued a similar statement in 2005.
Noh added that Japan should take note of the consistent position of remorse and responsibility taken by German leaders about that nation’s Nazi past.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) on Monday said that Beijing was concerned about “what type of attitude the Japanese government and leaders adopt with respect to the past period of aggression and the type of information it sends out to the outside world.”
“Will it play down the history of aggression and continue to carry that negative asset? Or will it show profound and sincere remorse over its history of invasions and travel lightly forward?” she told a media briefing in Beijing.
Abe has questioned the 1993 statement in the past and in what many saw as a nod to his conservative base, asked a panel of experts to review it.
However, mindful of the potential diplomatic fallout, he has said he would not revise it.
The pledge by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to “work, work, work, work and work” for her country has been named the catchphrase of the year, recognizing the effort Japan’s first female leader had to make to reach the top. Takaichi uttered the phrase in October when she was elected as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Many were initially as worried about her work ethic as supportive of her enthusiasm. In a country notorious for long working hours, especially for working women who are also burdened with homemaking and caregiving, overwork is a sensitive topic. The recognition triggered a
A plan by Switzerland’s right-wing People’s Party to cap the population at 10 million has the backing of almost half the country, according to a poll before an expected vote next year. The party, which has long campaigned against immigration, argues that too-fast population growth is overwhelming housing, transport and public services. The level of support comes despite the government urging voters to reject it, warning that strict curbs would damage the economy and prosperity, as Swiss companies depend on foreign workers. The poll by newspaper group Tamedia/20 Minuten and released yesterday showed that 48 percent of the population plan to vote
‘HEART IS ACHING’: Lee appeared to baffle many when he said he had never heard of six South Koreans being held in North Korea, drawing criticism from the families South Korean President Lee Jae-myung yesterday said he was weighing a possible apology to North Korea over suspicions that his ousted conservative predecessor intentionally sought to raise military tensions between the war-divided rivals in the buildup to his brief martial law declaration in December last year. Speaking to reporters on the first anniversary of imprisoned former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol’s ill-fated power grab, Lee — a liberal who won a snap presidential election following Yoon’s removal from office in April — stressed his desire to repair ties with Pyongyang. A special prosecutor last month indicted Yoon and two of his top
The Philippines deferred the awarding of a project that is part of a plan to build one of the world’s longest marine bridges after local opposition over the potential involvement of a Chinese company due to national security fears. The proposals are “undergoing thorough review” by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which acts as a lender and an overseer of the project to ensure it meets international environmental and governance standards, the Philippine Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement on Monday in response to queries from Bloomberg. The agency said it would announce the winning bidder once ADB
RSS