Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been condemned by the international community for his misguided words and actions, but he sticks obstinately to his behavior.

Shinzo Abe has defended his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A war criminals on several occasions and done everything possible to obsure the true purposes behind his conduct. Most absurdly, while being interviewed at Davos, Switzerland, he compared the Sino-Japanese relationship to British-German ties before World War I.

Anyone with a basic understanding of history knows that the problem between Britain and Germany before World War I was an arms race triggered by competition for overseas colonies. China is a country which has suffered more than its fair share of plundering, oppression and partition by great powers. China has vowed that it will never seek hegemony, and has been widely recognized as a country that advocates peace, development, and cooperation. No reasonable analysis could possibly draw any worthwhile parallel between China and any European state during their'great power' era. Comparing China with Germany before WWI is a parlor-trick designed to distract attention from Japanese right-wing politicians and their militarist strategy. Essentially, Japan's historical revisonism flouts international justice.

How to view its own history of aggression? How to address the suffering and injuries caused by Japanese militarism to the peoples of Asia? How to respect the post-WWⅡ international order? How to respect other counties‘ territorial sovereignty? These are the questions that Japan should be asking itself, and these are the questions to which Japan should be providing appropriate answers. This is also the key to solving difficult issues in the Sino-Japanese relationship.

If Japan cannot find a way to avoid the political and moral dead end to which its current policies are leading it, then other parties should intervene to provide wiser counsel. If Japan insists on ignoring such counsel and persists in following its current path, such obstinacy will inevitably result in a huge tragedy for the entire Japanese nation.


The article is edited and translated from《制造历史错觉的实质是藐视国际正义》, source: People's Daily.