Minister: Use your conscience
‘Up to Japan to carry burden of history or make clean break from the past’
BEIJING: Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi asked Japanese politicians to use their own conscience while judging the history 70 years after Japan lost a war with China.
“Seventy years ago, Japan lost the war. Seventy years afterwards, it should not lose the conscience,” Wang, a former Chinese envoy to Japan, said yesterday at a press conference on the sidelines of China’s annual parliamentary session.
“The more the perpetrator is conscious of his or her guilt, the more relieved the victim can feel about the suffering,” Wang quoted an unnamed veteran Chinese diplomat as saying.
“This is a common sense in interpersonal communication, and a correct attitude towards history as well.”
The choice is Japan’s, whether it opts to “carry the burden of history, or make a clean break with its past,” he said.
China was invaded by Japan in the first half of the 20th century, and troubling wartime memories have soured relations between the two neighbouring countries for decades.
Ties were further poisoned with the Japanese government’s “purchase” of the Diaoyu Islands in September 2012 and the repetitious visits by Japanese politicians to the Yasukuni Shrine where WWII war criminals are also honoured.
Commenting on the historical issues that have been “haunting the China-Japan relationship,” Wang said Japanese politician should “first ask themselves what they have done,” adding that righteous people in the world will make their own judgement.
Japan invaded northeast China in 1931 and had conducted a full-scale invasion since 1937. By the end of World War II, more than 35 million Chinese were killed or wounded during the Japanese aggression.
China never caved, pinning down more than half a million betterarmed Japanese troops – men and material that would otherwise have threatened India or even the United States.
On Sept 2, 1945, Japan signed the formal surrender and China declared the following day, Sept 3, as the Victory Day.
China announced a series of commemorative events, including a military parade, to mark the 70th anniversary of the WWII victory, and would invite leaders from all relevant countries and international organisations to China for the commemorations.
China welcomes the participation of “anyone who is sincere about coming,” Wang said yesterday.
“Our goal is to remember history, commemorate the martyrs, cherish peace and look forward to the future,” he said. — Xinhua