politics

Abe slams China at debate ahead of elections

27 Comments
By MALCOLM FOSTER

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

27 Comments
Login to comment

peaceful neighbors have wisely keep the door closed - sound-proof to Abe's rhetorics.

0 ( +10 / -10 )

It doesn't matter what Japan does. They could apologize to China and Korea a million times for "historical wrongs" and it would not matter one whit, none of those apologies likely would be accepted, or if they were then China and Korea would merely find something else to rail about . China and Korea have a deep need to have an outside enemy to blame all of their shortcomings on and Japan fits the bill perfectly. Until China and Korea mature and stop playing the eternal victim, nothing will change. Because what really eats at those countries are not only their past defeats, but that they were humiliated and have a huge inferiority complex.

-4 ( +15 / -19 )

....have wisely kept.....sorry mod.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Four small steps Japan could take to permanently improve its global and regional diplomatic image and relationships, and set a very fine example to the world and humankind:

1) Set aside the rights or wrongs of Japan's hitherto positions on 2, 3, and 4 below. 2) Following the fine example of Germany accountability and acceptance of culpability, generously apologize for what it did 1895-1945 including comfort women, Korean, Chinese, Malay, Dutch etc., execution of civilian and military prisoners etc. etc. When in doubt, err on the side of apology rather than denial, or best of all, keep it general (and unambiguously generous). 3) In the interests of peace, good will and regional relations, give the small island of Takeshima to Korea and the Senkaku Islands to China. Accept Russia's offer of the two sourthern islands of the "Northern Territories" and recognize Russian sovereignty on the two "Northern Territory" islands. 4) Give up whaling, which for Japan has only a tiny economic significance, but an enormous negative image significance.

0 ( +8 / -8 )

@A Realist Japan needs only to apologize once fully and clearly and all would be forgiven. We all in Asia would accept and forgive. However if you apologize a million times and then retract and pray to the war criminals, then this is nonsense. China does not need Japan as an enemy for any agenda. You over emphasize Japan. I live in China for the past 15 years. No one really cares about Japan now. The mainland Chinese focus is the US and Europe where there are still things to learn. Trade with the US, Europe, India, Africa, Australia, the Middle East and South East Asia will be their new thrust. In China, Panasonic has closed their exhibition center. Samsung and Phillips now rule the Chinese households.Yaohan is Chinese and Isetan now is a very small player. H&M and Zara are bigger than Uniqlos. Audi, BMW, VW, Buick, Hyundai, Volvo, Benz, Peugeot etc. now rule the Chinese roads. Lexus is rather non existent! Abe can don't talk. That is perfectly fine with the Chinese government. Japan can play into Abe's hand and reduce Japan to totally insignificance in China. I guess this is what you call retribution for the evils done 80 years ago!

-5 ( +9 / -14 )

Japan PM slams China at debate

Yeap, election time. As in USA, when election time comes, bring up the bogeyman and talk tough. Instead of all this tough act, are you going to focus on problems WITHIN your own country? How does island disputes help with unemployment or social problems?

Asian2013:

That's the feeling I get. Most people in China just aren't preoccupied with Japan, contrary to what the media here wants you to think. Most just want to get on with life, get their children to have a better education, to earn more money, and to travel to the west to learn more. And they're more interested in Europe, US and Korea. China is doing roaring trade with Japan, but Japan isn't the only country on earth.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

China and Korea have a deep need to have an outside enemy to blame all of their shortcomings on and Japan fits the bill perfectly.

The Chinese and Koreans have been trying to get at Japan since 1274 when they invaded Tsushima, Iki and Hakata. Japan and China have never had anything resembling friendly relations since. Even during the Edo period, Japan had no direct relations or trade with China.

0 ( +4 / -5 )

It is wrong to reject summit talks because the other party gets on a nerve, or doesn’t accept a demand,”

Because they don't ACCEPT A DEMAND?? This guy is clearly creeping up to his nationalist agenda as it becomes clearer his party and the Komeito are going to win a majority. All this on top of the lies that he wants to push for better ties with South Korea and China. I guess 'better ties' for Abe and Co. equals=accept our demands without question.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

if you make people angry, how can people wanna talk to you, mind yourself first!

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

smithinjapanJUL. 04, 2013 - 10:53AM JST It is wrong to reject summit talks because the other party gets on a nerve, or doesn’t accept a demand,”

Because they don't ACCEPT A DEMAND??

The sentence is referring to Japan accepting a demand from China.

The statement is still correct if turned the other way around. Japan has the right to demand action, and China should not walk away from talks because they are not will to accept the demand.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

It's wrong to shut all the doors just because a problem occurred? Yeah, good one Abe! Negotiations are to listen to both sides of an argument and create compromises. However, anybody that has been to a Japanese business meeting knows that, meetings are not for negotiation. They are only tell everybody else what has already been decided. A negotiation Japan style!

2 ( +8 / -6 )

@Pukey2 You are right. China has many issues that they have to settle, be it education, infrastructure, the economy, corruption or medical care. If they falter on any of these, then you can give them 10 more Diaoyus and they would be of no bloody use! In the past 20 years, China has improved their economy whereas Japan has stagnated. China has built relations with other countries whereas Japan has remained the same or backslided. China has developed their sciences and send people to the moon whereas Japan continued to build automobiles and robots. In an athletic race you look forward. But Japan continues to try to rewrite history, pay respects to war criminals, look for ways to deny comfort women and trying to get people to focus on Diaoyu. 20 years ago, Japan has so much going for them. But they listened to the US too much and chose to play puppet and be co-star. They could have co-led with China. Give another 20 years and let's see!

-5 ( +5 / -10 )

Viking68: Thanks for pointing that out. As you said, though, it goes both ways. Japan is just as childish as China when it's the otehr way around -- for example when Abe and Co. have said there is absolutely no discussion on the island issue, because it's not an issue, and they hope China will accept it and they can mend ties (not to mention when SK says the same to Japan Japan throws a hissy fit and insists it is indeed an issue). And all the while Abe vows better relations while denying sexual slavery, altering history, expressing the desire to rescind apologies, justifying visits to Yasukuni, etc.

3 ( +8 / -5 )

Forget about the apologies for a minute. All we ask is that he stop all these insulting rhetorics, it's upsetting our intelligence. The latest comments are that Japan didn't really invade China. Say what? That's what Abe is claiming.

http://news.naver.com/main/read.nhn?mode=LSD&mid=shm&sid1=104&oid=052&aid=0000464029

0 ( +10 / -9 )

@House AtreidesJul. 04, 2013 - 10:51AM JST

Abe loves historians to tell him how to judge recent past, although he has no uncertainty about Diaoyu/Senkaku's much longer history.

The Chinese and Koreans have been trying to get at Japan since 1274 when they invaded Tsushima, Iki and Hakata.

Repeat a thousand more times, see if one more Chinese or Korean will nod in agreement.

Especially in the case of China, it is suffice to say Japan didn't matter much until very recently. For the sake of the argument, the southern islands of Ryukyu are very close to Taiwan. Did Qing bother to take over those after Taiwan was secured? You really have no idea why Ryukyu used to place itself under China's wing, do you?:-)

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Well Id like to see a little more objective references to Abes statement about not invading China. Even if Abe is no Stephen Hawking he can not be that stupid. His political career would be over. China has used demands in all of the claims that caused conflicts with their neighbors. Only that with Japan they did not succeed and couldnt send gunboats because Japan is too strong. Its very clear who is the aggressor and in the end who is too blame if the rightwing in japan becomes stronger and start re-militarisation. Maybe the only way Japan can get proper respect from China is to re-militarise. China seems to follow the logic that a stronger military is always better. Then I guess that must apply for all of their neighbors as well.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Abe couldn't give a clear picture of what he has in mind for Japan, so he showed his "strong side" by attacking China over the islands. This slight of hand will help him even further in winning the forthcoming election by a landslide.

And the opposition parties ... what a sorry looking bunch. I watched the "debate" on TV and once again got the feeling that they don't really know what they are doing. It didn't appear to be a debate as nobody debated anything to any degree. I hope they manage to wake up during the election campaign and give voters something to vote for.

As things stand right now ... look for that LDP landslide to overwhelm the polls.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Forget this tiny islands. There is a lot of land in space like Mars and the moon and probably tons of gold and precious metals :)

1 ( +3 / -2 )

japan should learn from German.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

When economic and military powers will be at equilibrium, both China and Japan will take each other seriously and negotiate in good faith. For the time being one feels stronger than the other, and therefore has no need to negotiate

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Japan would just be wasting their breath if they were to apologise to China because at the end of the day, it suits the Chinese to have Japan as an enemy because it's a distraction from the issues arising domestically eg Uighur unrest. But say what you like about Abe, he has stood Japan's corner when it's come to territorial disputes.

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

I live in China and therefore read their press and watch their news. As I have retired, I have all the time to watch foreign news and read Japanese press. In the Chinese press, there is very little mention of the Diaoyus and their senior officials hardly discuss the Diaoyus. So how are they using this issue to distract their other issues at hand? In the Japanese media however, there is constant reference to the islands. So who is using this as an agenda to distract issues at hand or playing the rightist card? China has more pressing issues like the economy, education, medical facilities, corporate governance, corruption etc. The population is now ignoring Japan and you can ask any foreigner here, including Japanese, and they will tell you that non Japanese products are currently the craze. Hopefully the Japanese government and media tell the truth about trade figures, otherwise American companies and European enterprises will continue with their field days!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

^ Asian2013, most of the noise is all coming from Japan.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

I live in China and therefore read their press and watch their news. As I have retired, I have all the time to watch foreign news and read Japanese press. In the Chinese press, there is very little mention of the Diaoyus and their senior officials hardly discuss the Diaoyus.

Who do you want to fool? As all of the medias in China are controlled by the commies the news are dosed in portions. And don't make a fool of Japanese as CCTV is full of programs about army/naval force, problems with Japanese 'militariziation', Senkakus etc...

The population is now ignoring Japan and you can ask any foreigner here, including Japanese, and they will tell you that non Japanese products are currently the craze.

Yoy can ask Chinese if he hates Japanese people. 99% of them will say yes and when you ask them why they'll tell you 'because they said so in TV/radio/press/school' even though they haven't seen Japanese in their lifetime...

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

China is a poor country, while Japan is a rich one. When a poor meets a rich, for former doesn't have the courage to say hi to the rich.

That's it. This is from a Chinese.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@shankun You have total right to disbelieve me. That is fine. I am hioping for relations to improve for both countries' sake. If relations continue to backslide, chances are it will hurt Japan more. I am so impressed with your knowledge that 99% of the population listen to the communist government and will do whatever they say. Common belief however is that this is not so. If Japan can galvanize 99% of the people, including Tibet and Taiwan, then I think China owes Abe a great sense of gratitude. Abe must do more so that a full 100% of the people in China hates Japanese products!

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

obviously he lacks the tact to handle china if this is any sign of it

or maybe he's doing it on purpose to aggravate china more so he can pull others to his side

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites