http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-11/05/content_491582.htm
Curbing Japan's move in wrong direction
China Daily Updated: 2005-11-05 06:22
Japan's shift to rightist nationalism appears to have no restraint.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi appointed Monday a new
cabinet whose key members gloss over the country's wartime past and
espouse a tough policy line on its neighbours such as the two
Koreas and China.
The cabinet reshuffle, which followed Koizumi's landslide election
victory two months ago, came soon after the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party endorsed a proposal to revise Japan's pacifist
constitution, which would boost the status of the Self Defence
Forces and give them a greater role and freedom in overseas
operations.
The proposal also seeks the separation of state and religion, a
move apparently aimed at facilitating government officials' visit
to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including
Class A criminals of World War II.
Taken together, these latest developments are a clear indication
that the country is racing fast to the right, despite concerns
raised by sensible Japanese and the international community.
A look at the profiles of just two of the new appointees is enough
to convince one why the new Koizumi cabinet is a cause of grave
concern. Foreign Minister Taro Aso and Chief Cabinet Secretary
Shinzo Abe are both strong potential candidates to succeed Koizumi
when he retires next September.
To begin with, the two conservatives back visits by Japanese
leaders to Yasukuni, which is a symbol of Japan's militarism. Aso,
who headed the Internal Affairs Ministry, was the only cabinet
member to pay respects to the shrine in April. Abe also indicated
upon his appointment that he would do the same.
We don't need to go any further than quoting Nobutaka Machimura,
who was replaced by Aso, in questioning the sensibility of
installing the two men in the cabinet. "If the prime minister, the
chief cabinet secretary and the foreign minister all turn up to
visit Yasukuni, it is feared it would lead to a quite serious
situation," the outgoing minister said.
Adding to our worries is that Aso is one of the Japanese
politicians who often glorify Tokyo's colonial rule of Korea. He
argued in 2003 that Koreans were not forced by the colonialists to
use Japanese names but did so willingly.
It is truly doubtful that Korea, China and other Asian countries
who suffered so much at the hands of the brutal Japanese imperial
colonialists can work with a man who is bent on glossing over his
country's misdeeds.
On a broader perspective, the Republic of Korea (ROK) needs to work
with its Asian neighbours, particularly China, to put a brake on
Japan's expansionist policy, which is certain to pose a threat to
regional stability.
In this vein, the upcoming summit between the ROK President Roh
Moo-hyun and Chinese President Hu Jintao in Seoul ahead of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation leaders' meeting would provide a
good opportunity for the two countries to demonstrate their firm
joint ground. For instance, they would be able to initiate
international pressure on the wayward Japanese leaders not to visit
Yasukuni.
The two leaders may do well to recall that their predecessors, Kim
Young-sam and Jiang Zemin, at a summit in Seoul in 1995, joined in
harsh denunciation of Japan's attempts to beautify its wartime
atrocities.
Joint pressure coming from the ROK and China could be one of the
ways to prevent Japan from creating the "quite serious situation"
that its just-fired foreign minister worries about. Lining up other
former victims of Japan's past expansionism in Asia behind such
efforts would be more effective in curbing the country's
ill-advised move in the wrong direction.
(China Daily 11/05/2005 page4)
