By Shunsuke Hirose
A troubling consensus in East Asia: Japan is unrepentant, and China and South Korea will never forgive – so why bother?
At a United Nations Security Council open meeting on January 29 on “War, its lessons, and the search for a permanent peace,” international observers were again treated to evidence that the situation in East Asia is anything but a permanent peace. Both the Chinese and South Korean ambassadors accused Japan of glorifying and justifying its imperial past, whether it be through visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, refusing to take a clear stance on the “comfort women” issue (or worse, justifying sexual slavery in wartime), or denying the existence of the Nanjing massacre. They contended that Japan’s lack of reckoning with history has harmed the search for a lasting peace in Asia, on top of the territorial and geopolitical disputes that have already heightened tensions.
Ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni Shrine in December 2013, I wrote that given Prime Minister Abe’s steps away from revising longstanding Japanese war apologies, “historical issues are being resolved to China and South Korea’s satisfaction under the Abe government.” That statement flies in the face of today’s realities: history is no longer just a cloud hanging over regional relations, but is becoming a political tool fueling historical resentment into future generations, a troubling development that raises worries that Asia’s future will increasingly be defined by conflict over cooperation.
Worse, the media and education systems in all three countries – the primary means by which most citizens learn of their country’s history and its relations with the outside world – are engaging in self-censorship and constructing nationalistic narratives in lieu of reconciliation. The influence of free academic and media discourse in shaping historical consensus is increasingly compromised across East Asia in favor of a divisive consensus built on nationalism, distrust, and resentment.
Read the full story at The Diplomat