UNESCO Adds Nanjing Massacre Documents

One of the added documents

 

 UNESCO on Saturday added Chinese documents on the "Nanjing Massacre" to the Memory of the World heritage, drawing an immediate protest from the Japanese government questioning whether the U.N. body was "neutral and fair" in registering them.

Beijing's dossier on the widespread killings of Chinese citizens and soldiers following the 1937 capture of Nanjing by the Japanese military is among dozens of new additions of documentary heritage, also including two sets of archives from Japan.

The Japanese materials cover the post-World War II internment and repatriation of Japanese by the Soviet Union and a Buddhist temple's extensive records of its activities from the medieval to pre-modern eras in Japan.

China had also nominated "comfort women" files. But this was not added in the biennial registration by UNESCO for the documentary version of the World Heritage and Intangible Cultural Heritage programs, which started in 1997.

The "Documents of the Nanjing Massacre" consists of court documents from the International Military Tribunal for the Far East that convicted several Japanese as war criminals and a Chinese military tribunal, among others. They also include photos of the killings said to have been taken by the Imperial Japanese Army and film footage taken by an American missionary.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press secretary's statement that "the nomination was made on the basis of unilateral arguments" and "it is extremely regrettable" that they were registered.

It "raises a question about the action of the international organization that ought to be neutral and fair" and "it is evident that there is a problem about the veracity" of the archives, it said.

Differences over history have complicated Japan's relations with China. Japanese officials may be concerned that UNESCO's registration of the documents could give Beijing ammunition against Tokyo in promoting its campaign to highlight what it calls "the crimes of Japanese militarism," including the "Nanjing Massacre", in which it claims more than 300,000 people were killed.

Japanese historians estimate the death toll at ranging between the tens of thousands to 200,000.

Last year China nominated the "Nanjing Massacre" files and the "comfort women" documents for UNESCO listing this year on the 70th anniversary of what Beijing calls its victory in a war of resistance against Japanese aggression and in the world war against fascism.

Tokyo argued that China was politicizing UNESCO and asked Beijing to withdraw the double nominations, which China refused to do, according to Japanese officials.

Japanese historian Masato Miyachi, a professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo, said, "By registering Nanjing Massacre materials as Memory of the World heritage, UNESCO is recognizing the authenticity of documents and their significance in the world."

He noted that there are other UNESCO-listed documents about dark episodes of history such as war and slavery. "If, however, the veracity of the documents submitted by China is questioned, that would undermine the credibility of the entire Memory of the World heritage," he said.

According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, the Memory of the World screening criteria concerns the necessity of the preservation and custody of documents and whether they represent historical truth is not considered.

These and other documents were selected for registration by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova following recommendations by an international advisory panel that met in Abu Dhabi from Sunday to Tuesday.

One of the two sets of documents listed from Japan is a collection of some 570 memoirs, drawings and other items composed by Japanese inmates of Siberian labor camps after World War II, and lists of those repatriated after the war to Maizuru port in Kyoto Prefecture.

Roughly 55,000 of the nearly 600,000 Japanese soldiers detained in labor camps in Siberia and Mongolia after the war died due to forced labor, the severe living conditions and malnutrition.

Before applying for the registration, the Maizuru city government investigated other documents with the help of its sister city Nakhodka, near Vladivostok, in eastern Russia. The Japanese government and Maizuru city applied to register those documents in March 2014.

The other collection is the archives at Toji Temple called the "Toji Hyakugo Monjo," or Toji Temple's 100 boxes of documents, comprised of some 25,000 documents from the years 763 to 1711. The collection -- records of the ancient temple system and social structures -- was designated a Japanese national treasure in 1997.

In the next registration phase in 2017, Japan will seek to list the records of diplomat Chiune Sugihara who issued visas to help some 6,000 Jews flee from Nazi persecution during WWII, as well as three ancient stone monuments and documents of Korean missions to Japan in the Edo period.

Kyodo

Abe And Cabinet Pass Military Changes

Japan’s cabinet has approved draft laws which would trigger a dramatic shift in security policy, allowing the military to fight overseas for the first time since World War II.

The proposals would allow Japan to defend other countries under attack.

The latest move comes after a revision of US-Japan defense guidelines which expanded cooperation between the two countries as they seek to respond to China’s increasingly assertive military posturing in the region.

It could worsen ties with Beijing, already strained by feuds over the wartime past and disputed territory.

A spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry responded to the news saying:

“We have repeated many times before that due to historical reasons, Asian neighbouring countries and the international community pay a high level of attention to any changes in Japan’s security policy. We hope that Japan can learn the lessons of history, uphold the path of peaceful development, do more real positive things and play a bigger constructive role in this Asian region in which we coexist for peace, stability and joint development.”

The bills are expected to pass parliamentary approval given the ruling bloc’s majority, although opinion polls show citizens are confused and divided over the changes.

Why Nanjing Matters

 

Denying the Nanjing Massacre violates Japan's post-war commitment, tramples the dignity of the victims and hurts their families' feelings, according to Motokazu Nogawa, a lecturer of Nihon University.

Nogawa, a researcher on historical revisionism issue of Japanese right-wing forces, said Japanese nationalist right-wing groups always deny the Nanjing Massacre, citing Nagoya mayor Takashi Kawamura who claimed that the Nanjing Massacre was entirely fabricated.

"In fact, their real purpose is to get dominance in the political field rather than the academic field," Nogawa said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua on the eve of China's first National Memorial Day for Nanjing Massacre Victims on Dec. 13, which also marks the 77th anniversary of the mass-slaughter.

On Dec. 13, 1937, Japanese troops captured the then Chinese capital Nanjing, killing some 300,000 unarmed people within six weeks.

According to Nogawa, Japanese right wingers use all kinds of communication tools to deny the Nanjing Massacre. On the contrary, few impartial stories about the massacre could be heard from Japanese media. "This kind of imbalance makes it difficult for the public to have access to historical facts," he said.

"The Nanjing Massacre trampled the victims' dignity and hurt their families' feelings deeply. However, a majority of media organizations focus on interpretation that the incident is simply 'a block against Sino-Japanese relations' or 'a controversial topic between right and left wing forces'."

"Meanwhile, some intellectuals in Japan know the historical facts, but choose to keep silent. Most of them have a good knowledge about Western countries' firm attitude toward the massacre of the Jewish population, when it comes to the Nanjing Massacre, however, they are excessively tight-lipped," Nogawa said.

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East, established for war crimes and other wartime atrocities after World War II, ruled the Nanjing Massacre was among war crimes.

To Nogawa, recognizing the verdict constitutes the premise of Japan's return to the international community in the post-war era and the signing of the China-Japan Joint Statement.

In the statement signed in 1972, the Japanese government expressed its "deep introspection" on Japan's responsibility for the enormous losses sustained by the Chinese people as the result of the war and expressed its stance to strictly follow the " Potsdam Proclamation".

So, Nogawa said, on China's side, denying the Nanjing Massacre not only means denial of Japan's war crimes, but also goes against Japan's commitment to the international community.

He also suggested that the Chinese side emphasize to Japanese citizens "Japan's recognition of the Nanjing Massacre is a symbol of reconciliation in bilateral relations."

Regional prosperity cannot be achieved without peaceful co- existence and full awareness of the past, Nogawa said, adding "I hope nationals of the two countries to remember those Chinese people who have suffered from the war and honor the victims of the massacre."

Zhu Chao

China's Legitimacy Problem

By now the statistics of China’s rise are well-known. It has the world’s second largest gross domestic product (GDP). It will likely overtake U.S. GDP in the next decade. It is the world’s second largest spender on defense. It aims to build a blue-water navy, including aircraft carriers. It likely already has the missile and drone ability to deny the U.S. Navy the ability to operate inside the “first island chain” (from southern Japan south through Taiwan and the Philippines to the South China Sea) without unacceptable losses. It has the world’s largest population: one in seven persons today is a Chinese national.

As Hugh White has argued, the U.S. has never faced a greater challenger in its history as a world power. The U.S. roughly emerged as a great power in the 1880s. In that time, it has faced four major challengers: German nationalism in WWI, fascism in World War II, communism in the Cold War, and millenarian jihadism in the war on terror. Only the Soviet challenger ever came close to the U.S. in terms of power resources. Hitler and bin Laden were arguably the most terrifying, but Stalinist power was much greater, and even that collapsed. China however exceeds all these in the resources it can muster. It is vastly better governed than the U.S.S.R. was, and far larger economically than Germany, Japan, and various Islamist states and groups. China is catching up, fast.

Chinese hegemony in the western Pacific is not inevitable. For one thing, it has many opponents. But for all sorts of reasons, a full-blown containment line from India east and north to Japan is increasingly unlikely. India is hesitant. Southeast Asia desperately wants to trade with China and be pulled up along with its rise, not balance against it. South Korea is as likely to align with Beijing against Japan as vice versa. That leaves Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S. This might be enough to deter Chinese ambition, but Japan has been struggling for decades, and the U.S. is overextended. White’s prediction that some kind of Sino-U.S. compromise is the best shot to avoid a disastrous Sino-U.S. conflict seems ever more likely. Chinese power in East Asia will likely have to be recognized at some point in the next two decades.

The follow-on question then for China is whether it can legitimate its incipient regional hegemony. Can it demonstrate to other local players that Chinese regional dominance does not simply mean tyranny? It is often suggested that China today seeks an updated tribute system. If so, this is not as bad as it sounds (assuming there is no alternative to Chinese hegemony). The tribute system demanded formal hierarchy but permitted informal near-equality. Specifically, it left the tributaries’ domestic politics alone (even in the closest tributary, Korea), and exerted only mild influence over foreign policy. That sounds an awful lot like what the U.S. already does in Latin America and Europe.

But American hegemony is moderated by a reasonably liberal ideology that gives participant states a say in the larger framework. States like Germany or Japan are not subjects of the United States, they are allies, and their exit option is real. If the U.S. is an “empire,” it is rather soft one. When France withdrew from NATO’s military integration in 1966, and when the Philippines voted the Americans out of their bases in 1992, the U.S. did nothing. When Soviet “allies” tried to exit the Warsaw Pact, they were crushed. In turn then, the Eastern European allies-turned-subjects gave up, slacked on their contribution to “socialist fraternity,” and became a burden for the Soviet Empire rather than an asset.

This should be a cautionary lesson for China. China is indeed powerful. That power will gain it regional fear and a grudging respect. To cross China is risky. But for power to last through the ups-and-downs of history, it must be more than just bullying. As Richard Armitage once said, “China will never be great until it stands for something more than itself.” Today, China is little more than that. Instead, as David Shambaugh put it: “China is, in essence, a very narrow-minded, self-interested, realist state, seeking only to maximize its own national interests and power. It cares little for global governance and enforcing global standards of behavior (except its much-vaunted doctrine of noninterference in the internal affairs of countries). Its economic policies are mercantilist and its diplomacy is passive. China is also a lonely strategic power, with no allies and experiencing distrust and strained relationships with much of the world.

This strategy is a recipe for short-term success (free-riding on the U.S. to continue to rise cheaply), medium-term regional discomfort (nearby states bristle at selfish “leadership”), and long-term decline (those nearby countries, upset at their poor treatment earlier, abandon China later in its time of need). As China rises dramatically over its neighbors, they will look for input into its choices, a sense of rules that give them some kind of place in a system, rather than serfdom in an extra-territorial despotism, and a language of power, a legitimating ideology that places restraints on Chinese power rather than simply exalting it. China’s current behavior in Xinxiang and Tibet, where Han nationalism and strict central control are being pushed onto a resistant periphery, are not good signs. China needs to build something more conciliatory and appealing to non-Chinese, akin to the U.S. liberal order that has netted the U.S. so many allies around the world.

This legitimating ideology must be some kind of intellectual framework, not raw ethnocentrism. Nationalism is not enough, even if it appeals to more than a billion people. Much as Putin’s aggressive Russian nationalism has alienated much of the Russian and post-Soviet periphery, so will China’s current ideology of nationalist grievance and resentment. Even North Korea and Myanmar, precisely the kind of repressive autocracies that should be comfortable with Beijing, have tacked away from it as they have increasingly realized that “alliance” with China means subordination in practice. Something more positive and supra-national is necessary.

Marxism, of course, sought to be this. It laid out an ideology of formal equality, and “socialist fraternity” might not have been a fraud if the Soviet Union had been more genuinely communist and less a cover for Russian nationalism and imperialism. But that is gone now of course. Liberalism too offers such a language of legitimated power that might re-assure others. U.S. liberalism has ensured reasonably good treatment of Canada and Mexico over the years: both have more or less stuck with the U.S. despite a huge power imbalance. But domestic liberalism is a non-starter for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

China’s own history suggests a neo-tribute system perhaps. That was indeed supra-ethnic. It was based a general willingness of peripheral states to accept the cultural superiority of Chinese Confucianism and the suzerainty of the emperor. While leaving peripheral states more or less free from intervention, it did require what would be today an unacceptable level of humiliation and groveling. Prestige-accrual was the central Chinese reward of the tribute system – the recognition and exaltation by others of China as the “Middle Kingdom” and center of civilization, even if the tributaries didn’t really believe that. But modern Asia is both highly nationalistic and post-Confucian in its international relations. China would struggle mightily to bring back such a feudal order convincingly. It would be asking Asia to swallow a lot of nationalist pride to re-introduce the old hierarchy and therefore strikes me as unlikely.

In brief, as Chinese power over Asia rises, it will increasingly need to define its position as more than just realpolitik and nationalist glory-seeking. If it cannot voluntarily win over its neighbors to cooperation, Chinese hegemony will be little more than a despotism. Perhaps that is all that Chinese leaders care for, but I doubt it. Most of us wish to be loved more than feared; China’s soft power exertions suggest that the CCP feels that too. But to date, the CCP has no real legitimating language of power for its neighborhood. Hence, for all its might, it continues to stand alone. Finding that legitimating framework, lifting China above just being a grievance-fueled regional bully, is the next large debate in Chinese foreign policy: the floor is open to suggestions.

Robert Kelly

Chinese Fighters Enter Japanese Airspace

Chinese J-20 fighter in Japanese air space

China and Japan traded accusations over two encounters between their military aircraft yesterday, with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera terming the events “dangerous” and China warning Japan not to intrude on its joint naval exercises with Russia.

Russian military leaders are meeting Monday to decide whether it would be best to cancel the Russian involvement set for Wednesday through Friday so as not to inflame situations further.  Russia is concerned about their part being seen as supporting China in the territorial claims China is enmeshed with Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia.  Russian officials have stated since last week that Russia neither supports nor agrees with the Chinese position.

Apparently this view also helped to keep the Chinese from agreeing to a gas deal with the Russians last week until Moscow finally caved into the Chinese rock bottom offers.

Japan’s Defense Ministry said last night that Chinese SU-27 and J-20 fighter jets flew unusually close to two of its military planes, an Air Self-Defense electronic intelligence aircraft and an OP-3C observation plane of the Maritime Self-Defense Force. Public broadcaster NHK later reported one Chinese fighter, apparently armed with missiles, flew within 30 meters of the MSDF’s YS-11EB.

Chinese SU-27 in Japanese air space

Tensions between China and Japan have mounted over disputed islands in the East China Sea, where Chinese and Japanese ships regularly confront each other. The two countries also have overlapping air-defense identification zones over the waters.

China’s Defense Ministry said Japan must stop intruding into airspace where its navy is conducting exercises with Russia, or bear responsibility for “possible resulting consequences.” The maneuvers are “routine” and a no-fly notice was released earlier, the ministry said in a statement on its website.  Russian military leaders distanced themselves from the Chinese comments and asked all parties refrain from mentioning Russia in the discussions.

China has made representations to the Japanese to respect its legitimate rights and stop all “detection and interference” activities, the ministry said.

Regional tensions between China and its neighbors have also mounted as it presses claims to the South China Sea with countries such as the Philippines and Vietnam, triggering anti-China protests in Vietnam.

Zengoku

Chinese Plans If DPRK Falls Leaked To Japanese Press

China has drawn up detailed contingency plans for the collapse of the North Korean government, suggesting that Beijing has little faith in the longevity of Kim Jong-un’s regime.

Documents drawn up by planners from China’s People’s Liberation Army that were leaked to Japanese media include proposals for detaining key North Korean leaders and the creation of refugee camps on the Chinese side of the frontier in the event of an outbreak of civil unrest in the secretive state.

The report calls for stepping up monitoring of China’s 879-mile border with North Korea.

Any senior North Korean military or political leaders who could be the target of either rival factions or another “military power,” thought to be a reference to the United States, should be given protection, the documents state.

According to Kyodo News and Jiji Press (the plans were leaked to them about 2 pm Tuesday from a PRC government source), the Chinese report says key North Korean leaders should be detained in special camps where they can be monitored, but also prevented from directing further military operations or taking part in actions that could be damaging to China’s national interest.

The report suggests “foreign forces” could be involved in an incident that leads to the collapse of internal controls in North Korea, resulting to millions of refugees attempting to flee. The only route to safety the vast majority would have would be over the border into China.

The Chinese authorities intend to question new arrivals, determine their identities and turn away any who are considered dangerous or undesirable.

“This only underlines that all the countries with a stake in the stability of north-east Asia need to be talking to each other,” Jun Okumura, a visiting scholar at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, told The Telegraph.

“What we have learned from the collapse of other dictatorships – the Soviet Union, Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya – is that the more totalitarian the regime, the harder and faster they fall,” he added.

“This is why we need contingency plans and I am sure that the US and South Korea have extensive plans in place, but the release of Chinese measures is new,” he said.

Okumura believes that the timing of the leak of the study is significant, given that China can have been expected to have similar contingency plans in place for the past two decades that North Korea has been teetering on the edge of implosion.

The release of the study comes just days after Beijing issued a thinly veiled warning to Pyongyang, ahead of a fourth anticipated nuclear test, that China would “by no means allow war or chaos to occur on our doorstep.”

China, which is North Korea’s sole remaining significant supporter, also refused to export any crude oil over its border to the North in the first three months of the year.

From Kyodo and Jiji Press wire reports

The Real Problem With Japan's Diplomacy: Shinzo Abe

Japan is having a tough time with diplomacy lately.  China has demanded Japan clarify statements made about China's rise economically.  Abe suggested in the UK Friday that China had some how cheated in its rise saying, "China found a back door into economic progress."

Koreans are still fuming over LDP member Nobuyuki Suzuki appearing on several Japanese television shows and stating that the sex slaves were Korean women who willingly worked as prostitutes.  Suzuki has also defaced sex slave monuments in Seoul and now it appears he may have defaced a sex slave monument in Palisades Park, New Jersey, USA.  Security camera footage released by Fox News shows a man looking just like Suzuki placing a sign in English stating, "Sex slaves were prostitutes.  Do not believe Korean lies."

Both are fuming over the fact that Abe in February stated, "The Kono Statement needs to be revisited and revised.  Japan is finding little to apologize for in the fact Japan was liberating Asia from European colonialism and bringing modern advancement to other nations."

Now there is more from his visit in Germany on Wednesday that angered not only Japan's Asian neighbors but also Germany and many EU nations and this could be what chilled trade talks with the EU.  Abe simply talked past what needed to be said.

Abe said that Japan will not be able to follow what the Germans did in the aftermath of World War II. He emphasized that the circumstances of the two countries war actions and crimes were vastly different and their post-war dealings should not be compared.

The question from ta Frankfurt journalist was probably in reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s remarks earlier this year that Japan should look to what Germany has done to atone for its actions. This includes official public apologies from their leaders, full compensation to neighboring countries as well as publishing textbooks for German schools that discuss in detail what their country and leaders did during World War II. 

Abe stressed that Europe needed that level of atonement from Germany because they were aiming for an integrated region. He believes Japan has gone a different route by signing treaties with former colonies like China and South Korea, and supporting the poorer Asian countries with development aid and technology programs.  "Japan simply did not engage in genocide like Nazi Germany did.  Japan worked during the war to rid Asia of European colonies.  Colonies that produced wealth for Europe by strangling Japan of needed resources.  We brought advance with the Japanese Empire.  Europeans brought slavery, disease, poverty, and degradation."

These comments quickly chilled German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Abe.  UK Prime Minister David Cameron said when he heard the comments, "This man in less than a minute had killed any trade agreement that could have been made."  Not to mention Europe is fuming that Abe instructed the Japanese Center for Whaling to go ahead with its whaling in the North Pacific and also advised them to prepare for next winter's whale hunt in the Arctic.  Japan will not abide by the ICJ ruling against Japan's whaling program.

Closer to Tokyo, its two closest neighbors have not been satisfied with Japan’s actions and this has been a source of tension within the region. South Korea in particular has been very vocal about their demands that Japan compensate individually the thousands of South Korean women who were forced into sexual slavery during the war. China meanwhile has also repeatedly asked Abe’s administration to make reparations and to formally apologize for their militaristic actions, despite past governments’ apologies that Abe says his cabinet will look to revise not necessarily uphold.

By R.J. Condon

Mr. Condon is a former UNHCR diplomat from the USA and has worked and lived in Japan for the last 17 years.  He currently is a human rights reporter with the Nishinippon Newspaper in Kagoshima City, Japan.

The Reason Japan's Apologies Are Forgotten

The “history” debate that constantly attends Japan postulates that the country has never apologized for past aggression within the region. In fact, Japan has provided Asian countries with assistance that was a form of compensation. The Asian Women’s Fund lacked clarity, but Tokyo offered payments to victims of sexual slavery. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama declared in 1995 that Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering,” expressing his “remorse and heartfelt apology.”

Earlier, in 1993, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono spoke of “the involvement of the military authorities” in the “comfort women” issue and added that “Japan would like to extend its sincere apologies and remorse to all those who suffered immeasurable pain and incurable wounds.” Several prime ministers wrote to surviving sex slaves noting that “with an involvement of the Japanese military it was a grave affront to the honor and dignity of large numbers of women.  Our country, painfully aware of its moral responsibilities, with feelings of apology and remorse, should face up squarely to its past.”

This is far more apologizing and contrition than the world average.

So why has Japan gained so little recognition for these actions? One reason, noted previously, is that its Axis partner, Germany, has performed better on the atonement front. But this is not the only factor.

Another one is international politics. Strategic imperatives dictated that Israel, Western Europe and, after the Cold War, Central European states better their ties with the Federal Republic of Germany. In Asia, however, Japan’s position has deteriorated. In the 1970s and 1980s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), not wasting much time on the past, wanted Tokyo’s money, which it got in vast amounts. Today, Beijing no longer needs the cash. Japan’s ally, the U.S., has replaced the Soviets as the enemy. Moreover, the CCP now fosters Japanophobia to bolster its chauvinistic credentials.

South Korea was a poor autocracy when it normalized relations with Japan in 1965. It received Japanese economic assistance as part of the treaty, but Seoul indemnified Japan against claims related to the colonial era. Since democratization in the late 1980s, many Korean leaders have worked hard to better relations with Japan. However, there are also electoral incentives to play the “anti-Japan card.” Being labeled “soft on Japan” is a curse. This is particularly true for President Park Geun-hye, whose father, the late general-president, began his rise as a lieutenant in the Army of Japanese Manchukuo (a patriotic choice, but one that carries an image problem today).

Economic success has freed South Korea from foreign assistance. Its judiciary is also now independent. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled that the 1965 treaty with Japan violated the constitutional right of Koreans to seek redress against Japan. Japanese diplomacy has failed to adapt to this new era in Korean politics.

Finally, several Japanese leaders have eviscerated past apologies. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dispatches offerings to the Yasukuni Shrine, whose message is aggressively antagonistic to the Kono and Murayama views. Pilgrims at Yasukuni since Abe returned to power have included Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Senior Vice Foreign Minister Nobuo Kishi, brother to the prime minister.

On November 4, 2012, a number of Japanese public figures ran an ad in a U.S. newspaper. It denied that the military coerced comfort women, going against the letter and spirit of Japanese official policy. Among the “assentors”  listed are Shinzo Abe, who was about to return as premier, and other politicians. The text provides links to “The Nanking Hoax” and similar articles. Abe now officially accepts the Kono and Murayama statements, but his unconcealed love of Yasukuni, the behavior of those he has appointed to high office, and his indirect affiliation with “deniers” ensures that most foreigners and Japanese think he leads a cabinet of “revisionists.

Koreans also noted reports that Japanese diplomats complained to a New Jersey town about a memorial to the “comfort women.” (The Japanese side was unwilling to discuss the matter, so the facts remain unclear.) This occurred under the DPJ administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, showing that the LDP is not the only source of hostility to the Murayama-Kono statements.

Additionally, Japan claims ownership of the Korean-controlled Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo in Korean, Takeshima in Japanese). This elicits anger in Korea. The posting of Japanese government videos on Japan’s right to Takeshima helps convince South Koreans that Japan is its foe.

Another recent episode, which is minor but illustrative, concerns Ahn Jung-guen, the Korean assassin of the Japanese Resident General in Korea in 1909. Referring to plans to erect an Ahn statue in China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called him a “criminal.” One of my alma maters, Yale University, boasts a sculpture of Nathan Hale, a colonial subject and activist who, like Ahn, was hanged by the authorities of the day. But one would not imagine Her Britannic Majesty’s government taking offense. Former colonies routinely honor those who fought the occupiers, often in barbaric ways.

Interestingly, in 1964, Prime Minister Eisaku Sato (Abe’s grand-uncle) awarded the Grand Cordon of the Rising Sun to the American General Curtis LeMay, whose B-29s incinerated Japanese cities during the war. Koreans might be surprised to learn that Ahn, who like the American aviator considered he was waging a just war on Japan, is a “criminal” but that LeMay belongs to a select group of foreigners granted prestigious decorations (he was thanked for his work with the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces, but it is unlikely premier Sato was unaware of that LeMay’s men killed around 100,000 civilians in Tokyo alone).

The Ahn statue in China rightly worries Tokyo, which it sees as a sign of a Sino-Korean bloc against Japan. But the more Japan fails to see how Koreans view the past, the more Koreans will dislike Japan.

Reaping dividends from the Kono and Murayama Statements, apologies, and compensation, was always going to be hard. Japan’s current cabinet, and some of its predecessors, have done everything they can to minimize the payout.

By Robert Dujarric

Robert Dujarric is director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University Japan.

Terrorist Attack In Xinjiang As Jinping Visits

Two of the assailants who carried out a bombing in western China were among the three people killed, state media said on Thursday, in an attack which also wounded 79 and has raised concerns over its apparent sophistication and daring.

The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, said on its official microblog that "two mobsters set off bombs on their bodies and died", though the report did not call it a suicide bombing.

The other person who died was a bystander, the People's Daily said.

Knives and explosives were used in the assault on a railway station in Urumqi on Wednesday, the first bomb attack in the capital of Xinjiang region in 17 years. The attack was carried out soon after the arrival of a train from a mainly Han Chinese province, state media said.

The bombing was possibly timed to coincide with a visit to the region by President Xi Jingping. Xiangjiang is a province with a large Muslim minority.

On Thursday, dozens of black police vans were parked around the station, while camouflaged police with assault rifles patrolled its entrance. Despite the security, the station was bustling and appeared to be operating normally.

The government blamed the attack on "terrorists", a term it uses to describe Islamist militants and separatists in Xinjiang who have waged a sometimes violent campaign for an independent East Turkestan state - a campaign that has stirred fears that jihadist groups could become active in western China.

State media accounts did not say if any other attackers had been killed or captured. Nor did they say if Xi, who was wrapping up his visit, was anywhere near Urumqi at the time.

Pan Zhiping, a retired expert on Central Asia at Xinjiang's Academy of Social Science, described the attack as very well organized, saying it was timed to coincide with Xi's visit.

"It is very clear that they are challenging the Chinese government," he said.

"There was a time last year when they were targeting the public security bureau, the police stations and the troops. Now it's indiscriminate - terrorist activities are conducted in places where people gather the most."

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

But the language used by the government to describe the incident, with the reference to the assailants as "terrorists", implies that it was carried out by Uighurs, the Muslim people who call Xinjiang home, many of whom chafe at government controls on their culture and religion.

In remarks released on Thursday from Xi's trip to Xinjiang this week, the president urged troops based in the region to "strike crushing blows against violent terrorist forces and resolutely strike against terrorists who are swollen with arrogance".

"Resolutely crush the space for terrorist activities and contain the spreading trend of escalation," Xi said, in comments carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

Nicholas Bequelin, a senior researcher at New York-based Human Rights Watch who closely follows developments in Xinjiang, called the attack "an unprecedented act of defiance from Uighurs who oppose the Chinese state".

"It's hugely significant and it's extremely politically embarrassing for Xi Jinping who has taken a very hard stance on the Xinjiang issue, and made a big show while visiting Xinjiang that Xinjiang is safe for the Han," he said.

The attack was the first bombing in Urumqi since bombs on buses killed nine people in 1997. It was also the largest militant attack there since the government blamed Uighurs for stabbing hundreds of Han Chinese with needles in 2009.

No one was killed in that incident, but it led to protests demanding the removal of the region's top official for failing to protect Han people, China's majority ethnic group.

Earlier that year almost 200 people died in ethnic riots in Urumqi.

"Knife-wielding mobs" slashed at people at an exit of the South Railway Station of Urumqi on Wednesday night and set off explosives, Xinhua news agency said, quoting police. Security is normally very tight at the entrances of railway stations, but exits are often unguarded and crowded.

The South Railway Station is where seasonal workers, mainly Han Chinese, arrive from other parts of China to pick cotton, Bequelin said.

Urumqi is now heavily populated by Han Chinese, who have flooded the capital and other parts of Xinjiang seeking business opportunities. Uighurs have complained that they have been frozen out of the job market.

"I just don't believe it was a Uighur who did this," said one 35-year-old Uighur man selling dried fruit about 100 meters from where the blast occurred.

"We don't have a sense of security. These public spaces aren't safe for anyone, Uighur or Han."

The attack came on the eve of a two-day Labour Day holiday, a time of heavy travel in China, and just as Han passengers were likely to be disembarking from a train from Chengdu, capital of southwestern Sichuan province, Xinhua said.

"Everyone was running and hiding. I was terrified," said Li Tianlin, a 53-year-old laborer. "We are still afraid and don't dare go over to the train station."

Exiles and many human rights groups say the cause of unrest in the resource-rich and strategically located region is heavy-handed rule by authorities, including curbs on Islam and the culture and language of its Uighur people.

Xinhua said in a commentary that "instigators might be away from the home field", condemning the spokesman for the German-based World Uyghur Congress exile group for saying that "such incidents could happen again at any time".

Spokesman Dilxat Raxit said in a email that more than 100 Uighurs had been detained since the attack, adding that Xi's visit was being used an excuse by China to step up their "armed repression" in Xinjiang.

"Any provocation by China will directly inflame the situation and further worsen the unrest," he said.

Luo Fuyong, a spokesman for the Xinjiang government, denied Raxit's allegations. "This kind of disinformation and slander has no basis," Luo told Reuters by telephone. "This is deliberate hostile rumor-mongering."

Wednesday's attack was the latest in a recent spate blamed by the government on Uighur militants.

In early March, 29 people were stabbed to death in the southwestern city of Kunming. Five months earlier, a car ploughed into tourists on the edge of Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing the car's three occupants and two bystanders.

Unrest in Xinjiang has caused the deaths of more than 100 people in the past year.

全国 - Zengoku News Service