By Clint Richards
Militarism could exacerbate problems already emerging in their drifting economic ties.
Both Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Chinese leadership have been directing their comments at each other so far this week, with each in the middle of very important state visits. It would appear that Japan’s recent change to its once overtly pacifist constitution and, as my colleague Zach pointed out, Abe’s joint announcement with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott that the two countries plan to cooperate in producing submarines are the proximate cause of this latest round of public statements. While Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang have sought to again draw attention to Japan’s Imperial Army past, Abe is seeking to assuage concerns in China and elsewhere about Japan’s recent turn toward a normalized military posture. However, neither side is willing to address the emerging regional security imbalance that is at the root of their increasingly vitriolic relationship.
Both Chinese leaders Xi and Li took the opportunity on Monday to highlight Japan’s atrocities during the Second World War at a ceremony to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the Sino-Japanese War at Beijing’s Lugou Bridge (also known as Marco Polo Bridge), where the incident that provoked the war in 1937 took place. According to an AP report, Xi said, in reference to Japan’s leadership, “there is still a minority group of people who ignore historical facts, who ignore the tens of thousands of lives lost in the war, who go against the tide of history and deny and even beautify the history of aggression and harm international mutual trust and create regional tension.”
Li made similar statements while speaking to reporters with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who began a three day visit on Monday aimed at strengthening economic ties. Li also continued China’s recent tactic of praising Germany’s postwar stance on its own wartime atrocities, in order to highlight Japan’s military normalization and its questioning of the use of comfort women during the Second World War. Diplomatic sources told Reuters that Germany (again) does not wish its wartime past to be used by China in its dispute with Japan, and Merkel did not refer to the war in her comments. On Sunday, China launched a website to promote memories of the Nanjing Massacre, and on Monday state TV showed scenes of the trial of Japanese war criminals from 1956.
In response, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reports Japan was “closely” watching China’s promotion of these historical issues, saying, “The Japanese government believes that it is not beneficial for regional peace and cooperation that China tries to turn history and other issues into international issues… Japan’s post-war steps as a peace-loving nation are highly lauded in international society.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat