politics

Abe, Xi meet but wartime legacy casts shadow

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...seeking to fix a relationship damaged by territorial disputes and a bitter wartime legacy.

And of course the best way to fix a relationship is, the day before you're scheduled to meet, make a point of not apologising to score brownie points with revisionist supporters at home.

What a risible little toad Abe is. Let's see how big he feels when Chinese tourists stop coming over to prop up his failed economic schemes.

2 ( +14 / -12 )

In the Jakarta speech Abe also made a veiled attack on China over ongoing maritime disputes. “We should never allow to go unchecked the use of force by the mightier to twist the weaker around,” he said.

Interesting comment coming from the leader of the country that colonized much of Asia for decades. And now refuses to repeat an apology for that. Perfect example of Abe/Japan wanting their cake and eating it too.

0 ( +11 / -11 )

Perfect example of how Abe follows faithfully US political agenda.

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

China and itls trbutary state South Korea are not all of Asia. In fact these two countries are the only ones present at the summit that continues to harp on WWII. In it's typical J-bashing agenda, AFP makes this article all about Japan;s WWII past whereas the reality is that the meeting and position of Xi towards Abe in light of the past couple years of cold shoulder is THE most significant part of the summit story. China's boom is over, they aren't going to keep increasing at 8% much less double digits. China wants Japan to join their new global financial order, to evettually replace US leadership in that arena as well. South Korea is going to end up in the dog house because in truth, Japan is far more vakuable to China in many ways.

-3 ( +10 / -13 )

The onus of mending ties, not just with Japan but with the rest of Asia, lies on China.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Yeah, everybody should know at this point that China would like Japan joined their side replacing the US leadership but Japan is too much strategical for the US gave up on it. Sfortunately for Japan. Blaming Abe when he is nothing more than a puppet in American hands means being intellectually dishonest.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

China and itls trbutary state South Korea are not all of Asia. In fact these two countries are the only ones present at the summit that continues to harp on WWII. In it's typical J-bashing agenda, AFP makes this article all about Japan;s WWII past whereas the reality is that the meeting and position of Xi towards Abe in light of the past couple years of cold shoulder is THE most significant part of the summit story. China's boom is over, they aren't going to keep increasing at 8% much less double digits. China wants Japan to join their new global financial order, to evettually replace US leadership in that arena as well. South Korea is going to end up in the dog house because in truth, Japan is far more vakuable to China in many ways.

My god, life in your parallel universe must be incredible. First off let's see exactly how China charaterized the meeting:

“I hope the Japanese side can take seriously the concerns of its Asian neighbours,” CCTV News reported Xi as saying.

A commentary on Beijing’s official Xinhua news agency said the meeting was a positive sign but added Abe’s failure to apologise was “deeply regrettable” and Tokyo’s “treacherous stance on the sensitive historical issues” was holding back the relationship

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

It's my opinion that Japan should strive for a diplomatic, business-like relationship with China. This will benefit both countries.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Does Japan have to keep on apologizing every single year?? How long do you have to keep apologizing to descendants that your ancestors hurt? Bygone is bygone. We just have to not let it happen again.

The Murayama and Kono apologies should stand.

-1 ( +8 / -9 )

It's a shame Abe and the Yasukuni lawmakers scuttled the talks, but at least China was good enough to meet.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

Japan can put this one issue to bed by simply following Germany's example. Remove the 13 war criminals from Yasukuni shrine, and move them to private burial grounds.

If one looks at Germany, the Nazis, and Adolph Hitler have no place of honour in modern German. Nazi symbols are banned, and neo-Nazis are regarded as threats, and criminals. The thirteen criminals in Yasukuni shouldn't be honoured by anyone. Their actions set Japan on a course that led to the deaths of millions of innocents, including Japanese citizens.

President Xi, however, is a hypocrite. He condemns Japan's wartime actions, and the politicians who white-wash them, yet heads a party responsible for 70 million Chinese deaths. There has been no apology or contrition about the young people massacred at Tiannamen Square. Invasions of Tibet, waters of neighbours, illegitimate claims to Taiwan, China has not been an angel in world affairs.

Xi should take a close look at the communist party's history of repression, corruption, and murder before he lambasts Japan. Japan has been a far more positive, and civil country than China has been since the war.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

@JB

Nobody is buried at Yasukuni, it's a shrine. The souls of the dead are supposedly at rest there. According to Shinto tradition, they're all bound together eternally. You can't separate any one particular soul from the rest.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I can only wonder whats going through their minds when they sake hands.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

It's a shame Abe and the Yasukuni lawmakers scuttled the talks, but at least China was good enough to meet.

Yeah, let's forget the very real issues that the CCP is causing right now, and dwell on something that happened before both you and I were born.

I'm guessing 60 years in your case.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

give them the small finger and they want the whole hand! Just because one Japanese PM offered an apologize they now expect it every time. Abe isn't so naive to offer that to China because he knows that China would always come back to that whenever they have something to complain about Japan.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Perfect example of how Abe follows faithfully US political agenda.

so with this entry permit to USA is completed successfully (!)

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Not all Japan wanted to invade China. Military strategists and statesmen even attempted to assassinate those behind the move in the 2/26 Incident of gekokujo. It was men powerful in finance and the central bank with ties to international bankers who were friendly to Stalin who exerted their powerful influence for attacking Japan and the absurd pre-text that this would put Japan in a better position to defend against what was viewed as the real enemy, Stalin and Communism. Japan's strategiests of the gekokujo were wanting peace while Japan grew stronger, as it was doing in the 1930s. They planned for a war with Russian in 1952, possibly in a joint move with Germany. By forcing Japan, through their agents, to attack China the banker in the City knew they were determining the defeat of the Empire of Japan and its East Asian Co-prosperity Sphere. Would Beijing really want to hear a truly honest confession of all this from Shinzō Abe? I don't think so. Zhou Enlai was Stalin's man. It would cause big trouble for the CCP. And Japan's reliance on international bankers is no less than it was in 1936.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Reformedbasher: "Yeah, let's forget the very real issues that the CCP is causing right now, and dwell on something that happened before both you and I were born."

Not surprised you can't see the sarcasm, given your confusion over how brackets are used, but I was turning the J-apologists constant claims that it's a one-way street, and Abe is taking the high road by coming to the table despite his recent actions, etc. Obviously BOTH governments have a long way to go before any true progress is made. In this case, though, Abe really has blown this with the statements just before the meeting, and gift to Yasukuni.

"I'm guessing 60 years in your case."

The usual childish comments when you don't like what's said, and someone's not kissing Abe's backside. You should really stop undermining your arguments.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

americaninjapan wrote "Does Japan have to keep on apologizing every single year??" The answer seems to be yes.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

@JBinJapan: Japan can put this one issue to bed by simply following Germany's example. Remove the 13 war criminals from Yasukuni shrine, and move them to private burial grounds.

You might want to read some about Shintoism to help you understand why the war criminals cannot be moved to private burial grounds. In brief, all the souls in Yasukuni “exist” together as a whole and cannot be separated from one another.

In Shintoism it is important to appease the souls of the dead. Prayer is offered just for that. As even the angry souls are appeased bad things can be forgotten ensuring that they do not happen again.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

anamericaninjapan: "Does Japan have to keep on apologizing every single year??"

Nah, one sincere one would be enough if not followed by the denials of what is being apologized for. Not only is Abe NOT apologizing in his speech -- he's not admitting massacres occurred, or sexual slavery, or colonialism, etc. Just look at some of Abe's fans on this site who call colonialism: "mergers", call the massacre of more than 10,000,000 people, "Japan sacrificing itself for the defense and liberation of Asia", call women coerced or forced into sexual slavery, "volunteers" (although now they debase them further by calling them ungrateful prostitutes). Murder people?? HELL no! The Japanese taught Taiwanese people who to take baths, and gave Asia education! etc. And you wonder why there's a need for apologies?

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

I don't even think Japan needs to "apologize". I just think they need to admit that they committed atrocities, and not trying to erase that piece of history. That would be better than any "apology for the sake of appeasement of the neighbors".

If they deny it, it's kind of like America denying using the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, or the Tokyo fire bombings.

Inb4 ironic comments like: "But there is undeniable evidence that the US used nukes and fire bombs!"

2 ( +2 / -0 )

. The souls of the dead are supposedly at rest there. According to Shinto tradition, they're all bound together eternally. You can't separate any one particular soul from the rest.

Fair point, lucabraci about no one being buried there, but, there is surely a way to do a spiritual disinterment. After all, the thirteen criminals weren't originally enshrined in Yasukuni. They've only been there since the 70s after one of their relatives, a monk, decided they should be there, over the objections of the Showa emperor no less.

The point is that there is a way to repudiate the actions and mindset of the war criminals enshrined there, and strip them of an honour they do not deserve posthumously. There's nothing that's "eternal" about this injustice, There's always a way to make amends.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

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