China's development to combat rising Japanese militarism

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China's development to combat rising Japanese militarism

(Xinhua) 18:59, August 15, 2013

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August 15, 1945, a day forever engraved in the world's history as VJ Day: the day Japan surrendered and finally ended World War II and the suffering of Asian people.

With 68 years now passed, the specter of militarism still haunts Japan, threatening China and world stability.

As Japan continues to turn a deaf ear to concerns over its future, China can stop the dangerous trend and maintain stability in East Asia through further development.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his administration have driven Japan increasingly to the right since taking office in December.

This change in stance has led China and other victims of WWII to question whether Japan can reflect upon history and repent its war crimes.

The 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender to the Allies on Thursday provides such an opportunity, but repeated provocation from the Abe administration has made it clear that the chances of Japan retreating from the right and moving back to the center are, at best, slim.

China has to count on its own development to rebuff any possible resurgence in Japanese militarism.

Japan's current administration, dominated by right-wing conservatives, is clamoring to amend the country's 66-year-old pacifist Constitution, dreaming of a politically and militarily powerful Japan.

As the pacifist Constitution symbolizes triumph over fascism, Japan's right-wing forces threaten the post-war order.

Some politicians have blatantly referred to learning from Nazi constitutional revisions, and given the international community more reasons to worry.

Those moves are partly driven by worries about China's rise. Right-wingers chose the old ways, instead of cooperation with China for common development.

Containing Japan's militarism does not only rely on pressure from peace-loving people, but also on strength and self-improvement.

The lesson of history is that Japan's traditional national character is self-contradictory; both aggressive and passive, militaristic and aesthetic, insolent and polite, brave and timid, whether facing the weak or the strong. Japan admires and even submits itself to the strongest, but bullies the weak.

Thus is the nature of the China-Japan relationship determined: by the strength of China. Only when China modernizes and develops rapidly can the ties improve.

Confrontation no longer has a place in the current world. Cordial China-Japan relations conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and countries, as well as the peace and stability of Asia and the world as whole.

The only way for Japan to actively improve its ties with China, if it wants to, is to reposition its strategies toward its neighbors, and throw away these militaristic dreams.