Hot Spots

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Hot Spots

01/09/2014

China's View on Abe's War Shrine Visit

Recently, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine which, in part, honors some who were convicted of war crimes. It was the first visit to the shrine by a sitting Japanese prime minister since Junichiro Koizumi’s visit in 2006.

Yasukuni is a highly sensitive topic for both South Korea and China. After his visit, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said:

“Since assuming office, Abe has miscalculated on Sino-Japan ties, and made mistake after mistake, especially visiting the Yasukuni Shrine which houses class A war criminals. These people are fascists, the Nazis of Asia,” Qin said. “Of course the Chinese people don’t welcome such a Japanese leader, and Chinese leaders will not meet him. Abe has himself shut the door on talks with Chinese leaders.” [South China Morning Post]

The following is from an op-ed in the Global Times, generally a Chinese government mouthpiece, authored by Zhou Yongsheng, deputy director of the Japan Study Center and professor of the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University.

“(Prime Minister Abe) realized his long-awaited dream of visiting the notorious Yasukuni Shrine on December 26. He has anticipated strong protests from China, South Korea and some other East Asian countries and regions but adopted an indifferent attitude toward the opposition by taking such a risk.

“Abe has inherited the condescending mindset imperial Japan had toward the then impoverished and weak East Asian nations. He wants Japan to take a leadership role in East Asia or even Asia at large.

“Abe has flagrantly violated international laws by denying Japan’s history of military aggression. The UN Declaration formulated in January 1942, the Cairo Declaration in 1943 and the Potsdam Proclamation in 1945 clearly define Japan as a fascist nation that committed expansion and aggression with greed and ambition. These international treaties and documents with legal validity that serve as sources of law stipulating the international order after WWII confirm Japan’s launch of the war was aggression.

“Abe has paid visits to more than 20 countries during the year since he retook office. Wherever he went, he advocated the ‘China Threat’ theory and called for joint efforts of nations with democratic values to confront ‘non-democratic states.’ This represents a malicious diplomatic move aiming at fomenting division in Asia and the whole world.

“China adopted the phrase ‘community of common destiny’ officially in 2007 and then used it to emphasize its vital relations with other countries. However, Abe has been lobbying nonstop to stir up controversies and cause troubles to hedge Beijing.

“Abe has put forward the concept of ‘value-oriented diplomacy,’ which is actually an extension of the ‘arc of freedom and prosperity’ laid out by Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs during Abe’s first stint as prime minister in 2007. If a Japan under the leadership of Abe plays a leading role in regional development, we are bound to witness escalated confrontations and convulsions.

“Abe’s offensive visit to the war dead shrine would induce more calamitous consequences than that of his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi. Abe has totally negated the imposition of ‘comfort women,’ the war of aggression, the Tokyo Trial, the justice of the anti-fascist war and the postwar international order. Therefore his pilgrimage is no longer an issue of religion or folk custom to offer sacrifice to ancestors, but a political action justifying Japan’s invasions and denying the victory of WWII.

“Regarding his visit, Abe claimed he had ‘no intention at all to hurt the feelings of Chinese or South Korean people’ but just expressed sincere condolences and prayed for the souls who had parted from their loving wives and children. But he ignored a basic fact.

“Why were the war dead forced to depart from their beloved families? What did they ‘contribute’ to their country? Did their ‘contributions’ refer to the resources from other Asian nations which were looted and carried back to Japan?

“The war dead separated from their parents, wives and children simply because they were engaged in burning, raping, pillaging and killing wherever they intruded. They inflicted unimaginably numerous miseries upon local residents.

“By the same token, the war aggressors dedicated nothing to their own compatriots but plunged them into an abyss of endless suffering. Japan was hit hard by the Soviet Union and the U.S., and in particular the latter dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing destructive losses for the country.

“The Japanese public should not be fooled by such right-wingers as Abe. Only by reflecting sincerely on the nation’s past militarism and constraining the rightist surge will Japan embark on a peaceful road in the future.

“Tokyo will ultimately find itself in a blind alley if it continues to build up military forces, exercise the right to collective self-defense, and rewrite the pacifist constitution into a ‘war-oriented constitution.’

“The war shrine visit by Abe and his cabinet deceived the public and jeopardized regional and global peace and stability.”

On Monday, January 6, Abe said he wants to explain to leaders in China and South Korea about his visits to Yasukuni. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said, “Judging from his moves, Prime Minister Abe is hypocritical when he pays lip-service to improving relations with China. It is he himself who closed the door to dialogue with China.” [New York Times]

Hot Spots returns in a few weeks. It may not be until February due to travel.

Brian Trumbore

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