Abe won’t apologise for attack
JAPAN: Shinzo Abe will offer no apology when he becomes the first Japanese leader to pay his respects at Pearl Harbor, 75 years after the surprise attack on the United States that sucked both nations into war.
‘‘The purpose of the upcoming visit is to pay respects for the war dead and not to offer an apology,’’ Abe’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said in Tokyo yesterday.
Abe announced on Monday that he will make the visit with US President Barack Obama when they meet in Hawaii at the end of this month for their last summit meeting.
It comes six months after Obama made his own pilgrimage to honour victims of the American atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The US president also avoided making any apology.
Abe is arranging to meet Donald Trump about a week after he takes over as US president on January 20, the Jiji news service reported yesterday.
A spokesman for the prime minister’s office said he was not aware of the meeting, and declined further comment. The foreign ministry later issued a statement denying that such arrangements were being made.
Abe was the first foreign leader Trump met after his election win. Abe described Trump as a ‘‘trustworthy leader’’ after a hastily arranged 90-minute meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan last month. - The Times, Reuters