'The Last Survivors' recalls Japanese occupation of Malaysia during WWII

Japanese Occupation survivors recount their tales to the new generation
Most of Southeast Asia was occupied during most of World War II by the Japanese. The Japanese captured Southeast Asia very quickly but had not planned very well for occupying it. In many ways the Japanese ruled through violence and repression rather than reasonable and humane governing. Southeast Asians that might have welcomed them as liberators were quickly turned off by Japanese brutality

TRAILER: The Last Survivors R.AGE

PETALING JAYA: It has been 70 years since Japan’s surrender after its occupation of Malaya during World War II, and with each passing year, more stories are being lost due to death and old age. 

R.AGE, an online video documentary team, is hoping to change that with the launch of The Last Survivors (rage.com.my/lastsurvivors), an online video campaign to document the stories of Malaysia’s WWII survivors.

The first video will be released later today, the 70th anniversary of the final signing ceremony in Kuala Lumpur confirming Japan’s surrender.

The video shows Omar Senik, 85, revisiting Pantai Sabak, Kelantan where he witnessed the start of WWII in Asia when the Japanese landed in Malaya – an hour before the bombing of Pearl Harbour.

Another WWII survivor featured in the series is Etheline Lee, who was 13 when the Japanese arrived in Kuantan.

Lee recalled how she was forced to watch the execution of locals accused by the Japanese of being “traitors”.

“They made them walk into this jungle and stand near a big hole they had dug, and shot them one by one so their bodies would drop into the hole,” said Lee.

According to her, the bodies were buried at the beach now known as Teluk Cempedak. Some were buried right beneath the beach’s popular fast-food outlets.

“It’s important to document stories like these,” said Chen Yih Wen, one of the R.AGE producers working on the series. “They really are the last survivors, and it isn’t enough to read about what they went through, you have to see it with your own eyes because these are places we walk by every day.” 

The Last Survivors campaign also hopes to encourage young people to document WWII stories from their own communities, especially through the memories of survivors.

To participate, record a video interview with a WWII survivor, and e-mail it to alltherage@thestar.com.my.

The campaign website features an interactive map which will show the exact locations of all the survivors’ stories, so that anyone can visit them and add to the narrative.

To add a story, photo or video to the map, go to rage.com.my/lastsurvivors or e-mail alltherage@thestar.com.my.

> Know any World War II survivors with interesting stories to share of the war in Malaya? E-mail the R.AGE team at alltherage@thestar.com.my .http://rage.com.my/lastsurvivors/ 

Related:  WWII survivors tell their stories | The Last Survivors | R.AGE 


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Abe Statement: Apology, Abapology or Abomb? Crafty rhetoric, insincere politics

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivers a statement in Tokyo on Friday marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. He acknowledged Japan had inflicted "immeasurable damage and suffering" on innocent people but said generations not involved in the conflict should not be burdened with continued apologies. TORU HANAI/REUTERS

BEIJING, Aug. 14 -- As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe releases an official statement later Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of his country's surrender at the end of World War II (WWII), he is standing at a critical crossroad.

Upon such a highly symbolic and closely watched occasion, Abe has a choice to make, and there is only one way that will lead him and his nation closer to the "normal country" dream he has so frequently shouted from the rooftops.

Choosing a wrong course -- or keeping going astray, given his record on the sensitive history issue -- will undoubtedly carry the second-term prime minister further away from a legacy in nation-building he so desperately needs, as his signature "Abenomics" is losing sizzle.

Any statement that flagrantly flouts the true history and fails to repent Japan's WWII atrocities would be tantamount to Abe dropping a bomb upon his country's international reputation and trustworthiness.

Such an "Abomb" would be particularly sad, as its sole victim would be Japan itself, Abe's motherland, which is the only country in the world that has been A-bombed and still in the healing.

It would also be extraordinarily irresponsible and destructive, not only because its shock waves would blow the chances for his "normal country" ambition to come true anytime soon, but because its fallout would further ail Japan's already morbid ties with its neighbors and stoke regional tensions. If Abe possesses any reasonable level of sobriety, he will not throw an "Abomb" at his own country. Rather, judging from the trial balloons he has released of late, a more likely scenario is that the canny nationalist would offer an adulterated apology.

An "Abapology" -- mentioning such key words as aggression and apology but placing them in a context that waters down their meaning, or releasing nuanced versions in different languages -- would be regrettable.

Such a half-hearted apology would once again reveal Abe's deep reluctance to face up to his country's wartime crimes and take on the noble responsibility on his shoulders in seriously reflecting on the past in order to usher Japan into a world-assuring future.

A muddle-through approach of that kind would be not only unworthy of the great significance of the historic juncture, but indicative of a conspicuous lack of political and historical calcium, which explains to a large extent why Japan remains an "abnormal" country 70 years after WWII.

The only right way forward is for Abe to stop his rightist slide and provide a proper and unalloyed apology -- explicit enough to demonstrate heartfelt remorse and a resolve to abandon his erstwhile troublesome attitude toward WWII history and help dispel the specter of distrust between his country and its neighbors.

Yet should history be any guide, even an apparently whole-hearted apology from Abe would not be enough. It is the least he should do. To realize his "normal country" dream and restore Japan's standing on the world stage, he has to follow up with concrete actions.

By Deng Yushan (Xinhua)

Crafty rhetoric, insincere politics 
(China Daily)

A very cleverly worded speech. An impressive play of the words. That's about everything we could say about Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's latest statement on his country's unseemly record in World War II.

Abe didn't seem to deviate much from the well-received benchmark statement in 1995 by then Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama. And the key points of that historic speech, including "aggression", "colonial rule", "remorse" and "apology", did find their way into his speech, though with abundant ambiguity.

For many in his audience, his expression of "heartfelt gratitude" to those who have been tolerant of his country and helped it return to the international community might be an unexpected bonus - not unlike his pledge to "squarely face the history of the past". That could be why some believe Abe has delivered more than what had been anticipated, given the discrepancies among its versions in different languages.

That East Asia just got around a potentially explosive occasion that could have escalated tensions is itself something to celebrate. For Japan's vigilant neighbors, however, whether or not Abe included the salient points of the Murayama Statement in his speech is not just a touchstone to gauge his attitude toward history, but the bottom line as well. Once that line is crossed, Japan's deteriorating ties with neighboring China and the Republic of Korea will slide past a point of no return, at least during Abe's term in office.

Abe knows what will come next. So, even after provoking neighboring countries no end, he waved olive branches at them requesting meetings at the highest level. He is yet to get one, precisely because of his betrayal of the Murayama Statement's spirit.

By incorporating the key expressions of that milestone statement, Abe may effectively silence some of his critics, whose latest demand was that his statement include the core Murayama expressions.

But make no mistake, he didn't present an apology of his own. He merely stated the obvious truth that earlier Japanese cabinets had expressed "heartfelt" apologies for the atrocities committed by imperial Japan.

It would be naive to think the tensions paralyzing East Asia will thus be gone. That Abe didn't cross the Rubicon, at best, means he was aware of the dire consequences of doing so and avoided it. And, that tremendous public pressure from home and abroad forced him to squeeze those words into his speech doesn't mean he actually meant it.

Rhetoric counts when dealing with Japanese politicians, for whom whether or not the Abe statement includes those key words makes a difference. Japanese politicians' infamous tradition of "slip of the tongue", however, makes it even more important to see how they act.

Abe's track record belies his claims of commitment to peace and good neighborly relations. That Abe and his advisers had reportedly struggled over whether or not to include Murayama's expressions, that the ruling parties had not agreed on the exact use of the expressions in the final transcript until the very last moment, that Abe managed to avoid directly referring to Japan's war as one of aggression and some of the perished Japanese as war criminals, and that his words became evasive when it came to Japan's colonial rule and the "comfort women" issue all betrayed a sense of reluctance.

Needless to say, reading between the lines of the Murayama Statement and Abe's speech even a casual reader can feel the difference in tones. In contrast to Murayama's sincerity, Abe seemed eager to shut out the past, though its sophisticated wording did hit the sentimental sweet spot at some points. But that will not be possible until Abe acts sincerely to achieve real reconciliation.

Therefore, even after weathering an otherwise imminent crisis, East Asia will continue to struggle in the long shadow of history.

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  Sorry is the hardest word for Abe

  The news that the "draft of Abe's statement contains an 'apology'" made the headlines all day on Japanese broadca...

Sorry is the hardest word for Abe

The news that the "draft of Abe's statement contains an 'apology'" made the headlines all day on Japanese broadcaster NHK on Monday. According to the report, the statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday will also include key expressions used in the 1995 statement by then-prime minister Tomiichi Murayama, including "apology," "deep remorse," "aggression" and "colonial rule." This is so far the first report released saying that Abe's speech will cover this positive content.

Yet over the past few days, a number of Japanese media have been quoting a variety of inside information saying that Abe's remarks will not include terms like "apology." As the day that marks Japan's defeat in WWII approaches, how Abe will talk about it has been placed under global public scrutiny.

Abe's statement will reflect the future path of the country. If he only reflects on the wartime past but tries to blur the nature of the war by refusing to apologize, or avoiding mention of "aggression," the nation will face serious doubts over whether it is planning to ditch peaceful development, and means to reshape the political and historical pattern that formed after the war.

Abe has always been beating about the bush, trying to lower the world's anticipation of him echoing the spirit of the Murayama Statement. Not long ago, his cabinet voted through revisions of the country's security rules, which has triggered quite a few domestic protests. His domestic support rate has tumbled sharply, causing him unprecedented pressure since he assumed office as prime minister for the second time.

Abe might compromise, and add those key words from the 1995 Statement. Yet this is not as certain as a compromise to political pressure, rather than his own moral and political responsibility. His historical revisionism is known by all, and opportunism is universally considered as his main principle to adjust strategies over historical issues. Hence, there is a good chance that he may rewrite his statement draft at the last minute.

Accordingly, instead of the real historical recognition by Abe's administration, the speech will more likely mirror Abe's scheming and calculating among all the pros and cons in the power structure of the Asia-Pacific region.

Even so, a statement that can be accepted by the international community is still worth welcoming.

Abe's political logic is weird. He should realize that the US is Japan's biggest obstacle on the path toward becoming a "normal state." But he won't let go of the rivalry with China. Some suspect that Tokyo is eager to stay in the good graces of Washington, letting its guard down and seeking a chance to get rid of its control. However, Japan is unable to make that work.

Abe will find that his ability falls short of his wishes over his strategy in the Western Pacific. We hope he will make the right choice for his statement, whatever the reasons. And history will judge him fairly.

- Global Times

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Remembering the legacy of Bandung, Sandakan death and Hiroshima bombing

THIS year marks the 60th anniversary of the historic Bandung Conference and the 70th Anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

A copy of the final “atomic bomb” leaflet, I think? I don’t read Japanese, but this was attached to the above memo. If you do read Japanese, I’d love a translation. Please ignore my thumb in the corner — it’s hard to photograph documents that are bound like these ones were.  http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2013/04/26/a-day-too-late/

In order to commemorate the past, a series of conferences and events have been held, the most recent being the Afro-Asian Conference hosted by Indonesia President Jokowi this week. The first Bandung Conference was called by the first Indonesia President Sukarno in April 1955 among newly independent Asian and African nations, beginning what was later known as the Non-Aligned Movement against colonialism. Twenty-nine countries participated, representing 1.5 billion people or just over half of the world’s population. It was the first time that leaders of these countries met to discuss their future after the end of colonialism.

The conference was historic because it was attended not only by Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, but also Egyptian President Gamal Nasser, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, Muhammad Ali Jinnah of Pakistan, U Nu of Burma, Nkrumah of Ghana and Tito of Yugoslavia, all giants not only in their countries, but makers of history in the 20th century.

The United States did not attend because it was not sure whether it sided with the European colonial powers or its new role as an ex-colony liberating the world.

The Bandung Conference was a conference of hope that the newly independent nations would build themselves into a zone of peace, prosperity and stability. On the whole, despite some failures, they succeeded. By 2013, these countries together have a GDP of US$21.2 trillion or 28.1% of world GDP, significantly improved compared with their share of less than one-fifth of world GDP in 1955.

Aug 6, 2015 will also mark the 70th anniversary of the horrific atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which led to the end of World War Two on the Pacific side.

Lest we forget, World War Two was a horrific period, since the world lost between 50 million and 80 million people or 3% of world population. Japan lost 2-3 million during that war, but the rest of Asia suffered estimated losses of up to 10 times that number.

Even though memories are fading, there is still a generation who remembered the hardships and atrocies of war, from personal experience of family being killed, bombed or flight as refugees. Even a remote country like Australia could not escape that war. Australian soldiers fought heroically in Kokoda Trail to repell the Japanese invasion of Papua New Guinea in 1942. If not stopped, Australia could have fallen to Japanese hands, changing the course of history.

But the 625 Australian deaths defending the Kokoda Trail paled in comparison to the Sandakan Death March, in which 2,345 Australian prisoners of war died marching from their prisoner of war camp in Sandakan across primitive jungle in Sabah. Only six Australians survived those marches in early 1945, only because they escaped. One in 12 of every Australian who perished in the war died in that death march.

My impressions of this incident are indelible, growing up in Sandakan and following the trail across Sabah on a road built by the Australians to commemorate their dead. It fascinated me that man could be that cruel to other human beings to send them across the virgin jungle without food to certain death.

On June 9, 2014, when Japanese Prime Minister Shintaro Abe addressed the Australian parliament, he did mention Kokoda and Sandakan. In it, he did not offer an apology, but he did sent his “most sincere condolences towards the many souls who lost their lives.” This was very Japanese English, because one gives condolences to the living, not the dead.


In the Afro-Asian Conference this week in Bandung, he rephrased his words as follows, “Japan, with feelings of deep remorse over the past war, made a pledge to remain a nation always adhering to those very principles (of Bandung) throughout, no matter what the circumstances.”

We note that he is already shifting the official Japanese view on the war from his predecessors Murayama and Koizumi, who offered “deep remorse and heartfelt apology,” in their statements about the war in the 1995 and 2005 anniversaries respectively.

I always thought that the difference between remorse and shame is one that differentiates Western and Asian values. A remorse is a feeling of regret that something has happened but there is no sense of guilt. Shame is a feeling you have injured someone else and you feel guity about it, and you want to make amends.

There is a sharp difference between the German and Japanese attitudes. Seventy years after the war, the German courts are going to try the 93-year old “bookkeeper of Auschwitz”, whereas the Japanese are still revising their history books on what really happened.

What makes Abe’s “deep remorse” poignant is that he is a leader of a faction that wants to re-arm Japan by changing its constitution and he regularly visited or sent ritual offerings to the Yasukuni shrine, which contains the shrines for 14 class A war criminals. Even the Japanese emperor has not visited Yasukuni after these enshrinements.

Most Asians like myself have great respect for Japan, but feel uneasy that the Japanese are beginning to whitewash their role in the war. The Yasukuni shrine has an accompanying museum that seems to suggest not only that the Nanking massacre did not occur, but that US actions to deny Japan energy resources pushed it into war. But these do not explain why Japan invaded China in 1937.

On the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, will the US leader express an apology or remorse for bombing Nagasaki or Hiroshima? If the Japanese want to understand how the rest of Asia feels about its actions during World War Two, just changing the history book will not solve the deep sense of injustice that war brought to the region. Could those who died or suffered during that period appeal to the rule of law that Abe-san so proudly proclaim today?

All of us want to move on, but not through denying the past. As the philosopher Santayana said, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Think Asian by Andrew Sheng

President of Fung Global Institute
http://ineteconomics.org/people/andrew-sheng

Sheng is Malaysian Chinese. He grew up in British North Borneo (today Sabah, Malaysia). He left Malaysia in 1965 to attend the University of Bristol in England, where he studied economics.
Datuk Seri Panglima Andrew Sheng (born 1946) is a Distinguished Fellow of Fung Global Institute, a Hong Kong based global think tank. He started his career as an accountant. He served as Chairman of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) before his replacement by Martin Wheatley in 2005.
 
THE AUTHOR IS CHIEF ADVISOR TO THE CHINA BANKING REGULATORY COMMISSION, A MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF MALAYSIA'S KAZANAH NASIONAL BHD AND A MEMBER OF THE INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY PANEL TO THE AUSTRALIAN TREASURY'S FINANCIAL SYSTEM INQUIRY

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China plans parade for war anniversary

 

Military parade to mark victory of War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

BEIJING - China will hold a military parade this year to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Monday evening.

Other events that will also mark the 70th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War include a rally, a reception and an evening gala in Beijing, which will be attended by President Xi Jinping and other Chinese leaders, the spokeswoman Hua Chunying said, without revealing exact dates of the parade and other events.

Related: Farce to fuss over China's military parade

Unmanned aircraft receives inspection during a military parade in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, on Beijing's Tian'anmen Square, October 1, 2009. [Xinhua]

"China will flex its military muscle again." Perhaps that's the main message many Western and Japanese media outlets will grab from the news that China may hold a grand military parade in September.

Such a fuss will only be a farce, even if the parade news is confirmed by the Chinese government. The unusual military parade, if it is held in September to mark the 70th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese aggression, it will only be part of the series of activities to commemorate the World Anti-Fascist War.

China has no intention to taunt Japan by showing off its military mighty, even when Japanese politicians' words and actions intensify tensions in the East Asia.

It's true that the parade will be special and rare as it will not be held on the anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. In the past two decades, two military parades were held in 1999 and 2009 to celebrate the 50th and 60 anniversaries of founding of New China.

However, the parade will only be part of activities that remind the world of what happened in the Eastern battlefield in World War II. As a responsible power that played an extremely important role in the Asian battlefield to fight against Fascist Japan, China's sacrifice and contributions have long been underreported compared with its counterparts who fight against Germany and Italy in Europe.

There were about 30 million casualties in China in the eight-year long war (1937-1945). And in the most brutal Nanjing Massacre in 1937 alone, 300,000 innocent Chinese lost their lives. Chinese people, through resistance, depleted Japan's resources and limited its ability to launch attacks on other countries, which is key to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.

China has every reason to use the international practice to highlight its pains and contributions in the World War II. On Jan 27, Poland held a ceremony marking 70 years since the liberation of Auschwitz death camp. In May Russia will hold a similar ceremony.

Military parade to mark victory of War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

 The series of activities are not aimed at planting hatred among the peace-loving people against their past foes, but remind the whole world to be vigilant to any factors that may threaten world peace.

Japanese people, who were exploited by its national military machine, paid the biggest price for Japanese warmongers. For instance, when the allies dealt a final blow to force Japan to surrender, more than 150,000 Japanese people were immediately killed after the US dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As Japanese politicians continuously tried to whitewash Japan's war crimes in past years, the whole world should keep a close eye on Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's statement on Aug 15, the day when Japan announced surrender in World War II 70 years ago.

Abe has hinted that his statement may deviate from former Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono's apology over "comfort woman" and the epoch-making statement made by former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama admiting Japan's war atrocities in World War II. If he does so, Abe will not only challenge the post-World War II international regime, but also cast a shadow on the whole of East Asia and harm the interests of Japanese people.

China is a peace-loving country that takes defensive defense strategy. The military parade, if it is held, will only display Chinese military's resolution to protect the nation and its people. Therefore China's activities to mark the victory of World Anti-Fascist War should be cherished by all peace-loving people across the world.

Source: China Daily, Asia News Nework

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China slams Japan PM Abe's speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos implication: the Nazis Hitler's DNA of the East?

China: Abe´s Britain-Germany comparison inappropriate CCTV News - CNTV English

Full video: Chinese FM Wang Yi addresses World Economic Forum CCTV News - CNTV English

China Thursday refuted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent appeal for more transparency in China's military budget, stating that it is Japan that should increase transparency and explain its own military buildup.

"China's defense policy is transparent and has been published in its white papers and on other occasions," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday told a regular press briefing in response to Abe's speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a day earlier.

"We must ... restrain military expansion in Asia, which could otherwise go unchecked," Abe told the annual meeting of global business and political leaders, following his government's custom of not naming China in such references.

In response, Qin urged Japan to explain to Asia and the international community the real purpose of amending its pacifist constitution, which has been in existence since 1947. The Abe government has been trying to revise it so as to greenlight the expansion of Japan's military forces.

In December, Abe's cabinet approved a critical defense policy package comprising new defense program guidelines, a five-year defense buildup plan and the national security strategy. Japan vowed to seek more "proactive" roles for its military forces abroad and to set new guidelines on arms exports, signaling a major shift from its previous restrictive stance.

"Abe tends to depict China as a threat at whatever occasion he attends. His purpose is to worsen Sino-Japan relations and damage China's image in the international community, as well as tear apart economic development in the Asia-Pacific region," Lü Yaodong, a research fellow of Japanese politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

During the Davos speech, Abe also called for dispute resolution through "dialogue and the rule of law, and not through force and coercion."

Qin said that Japan cannot on one hand refuse to admit mistakes and continue to denigrate China, and on the other hand indulge in empty rhetoric to advocate dialogue, as it is the Japanese leader that is shutting the door to dialogue.

Liu Jiangyong, a vice director of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said it is inappropriate for Abe to cast blame for political issues at an economic forum.

"Abe is trying to distract people's attention by claiming it is others' fault," Liu told the Global Times.

Abe also defended his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, saying that the shrine honors the dead of World War I and the 1868 Meiji war, not just war criminals or others who died in World War II.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who is currently attending the international conference on Syria in Montreux, Switzerland, described Abe's argument as futile, which only serves to expose Abe's erroneous perception of history.

Even today, the Yasukuni Shrine still represents the notion that the aggression of Japan in World War II was "just," the Pacific War Japan launched was "self-defense" and the trial at the Far East International Military Tribunal was "illegitimate," as well as honoring 14 Class-A war criminals, Wang noted.

South Korea Thursday also said that it is a complete contradiction to talk about forging friendly ties while continuing visits to the shrine.

Liu said Abe is unlikely to change his stance even though he sensed the pressure and isolation from the international community.

"His explanation reveals that he doesn't think he's wrong and he would do it again," Liu said.

Tensions between China and Japan have been rising since Tokyo announced in September 2012 the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

Chinese air force planes have been regularly patrolling the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which covers the Diaoyu Islands, air force spokesman Shen Jinke said Thursday.

On a recent patrol, multiple Chinese aircraft were sent to "monitor, identify, track and warn" multiple foreign military planes that had entered the ADIZ, established two months ago, Shen added.

By Zhang Yiwei Global Times

China, Japan open German front in diplomatic war

BEIJING (Jan 25, 2014): One hundred years after the outbreak of World War I, China and Japan are ripping selected pages from Germany's history -- including the Nazi period -- as they seek to demonise each other in their modern-day diplomatic battles.

Beijing's state-controlled media have compared Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Adolf Hitler, using shrill rhetoric that analysts say exploits Tokyo's mixed messages about its past aggression in China and elsewhere.

At the same time, they urge him to emulate Germany's post-war contrition for the evils of Nazism.

Abe, for his part, has raised the spectre of 1914, saying at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland that relations between Japan and China resemble those of Britain and Germany as they stumbled towards war.

Tokyo and Beijing are locked in an increasingly acrimonious row over small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls but China regards as its territory, with their militaries warily eyeing each other.

Commentators have likened China, a rising power, to Germany in the early 20th century and portrayed the islands as Sarajevo, site of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand that triggered the Great War.

In Davos, Abe pointed out that war broke out in 1914 despite strong economic relations between Germany and Britain.

"I think we are in a similar situation. We don't want an inadvertent conflict arising between these two countries," he told reporters.

China's foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang roundly rejected the simile Thursday.

"Actually in history China was already a major country in the Tang and Song dynasties (from the seventh to the 13th centuries), so there is no so-called 'China is becoming a major country'," he said.

"There is no need to make an issue of the Britain-Germany relationship."

Hitler's DNA

Chinese officials have lashed out at Abe since his December 26 visit to the hugely controversial Yasukuni shrine, which honours 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 senior war criminals described by Qin as "the Nazis of the East".

The shrine is seen in China and South Korea as a symbol of Japan's 20th century military and colonial aggression which saw the country occupy a large swathe of East Asia, often to brutal effect on civilians and prisoners of war.

In what analysts see as crude propaganda, the overseas edition of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily headlined an article "Hitler's DNA in Abe", illustrated with a mock-up of Japan's leader gazing up at the Fuhrer.

The Global Times tabloid, in its English edition, this week carried a cartoon of Japan's national flag with the sun symbol in the centre dripping blood and a swastika imposed.

"You could say it's propaganda," Torsten Weber, an expert in modern East Asian history at the German Institute for Japanese Studies in Tokyo, told AFP.

"It is a way to distort history and it's also a way to distract attention from more pressing problems that, for example, China faces."

Chinese media have also tried to compare Abe unfavourably with how Germany faced up to Nazi atrocities.

The official Xinhua news agency urged him to follow the example of West German chancellor Willy Brandt, who fell to his knees at a monument to victims of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising -- a brutally crushed 1943 revolt by Jews in the Polish capital facing deportation to the Nazi death camps.

- AFP

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6.An utterly unrepentant Japan opening up past wounds derail peace diplomacy

Abe no remorse over Japan's wartime aggression against Asian neighbours

 Japan PM omits expressions of atonement over past aggression in Asia on the 68th anniversary of its World War II surrender.

JAPAN - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe broke with two decades of tradition on Thursday when he omitted any expression of remorse over Tokyo's wartime aggression against its Asian... Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose hawkish views have raised concerns in the region, broke with two decades of tradition on Thursday by omitting any expression of remorse for Japan's past aggression in Asia on the 68th anniversary of its World War II surrender.

In a speech, he avoided words such as "profound remorse" and "sincere mourning" used by his predecessors to acknowledge the suffering caused by the Imperial Japanese Army as it stormed across East Asia.

A group of Japanese peace activists pay their respects to victims of the Nanjing Massacre in the capital of Jiangsu province on Thursday, the 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War II. At least 300,000 Chinese people were killed by Japanese soldiers when they took Nanjing, then China's capital, in December 1937, in a six-week rampage of looting, rape, torture and murder. The signs read: "In memory of the dead." [LIU JIANHUA / FOR CHINA DAILY]

Shinzo Abe speech skips reference to WWII remorse

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He has previously expressed unease over Japan's apologies for wartime aggression.

Abe stayed away from the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals from World War II. But he sent a ceremonial gift to the shrine, bearing his name and title as head of the Liberal Democratic Party.

At a time when Japan is witnessing an unprecedented surge of nationalism that is downplaying its past militarism, three of Abe's cabinet members — Keiji Furuya, state minister in charge of the abduction issue, Yoshitaka Shindo, internal affairs and communications minister, and Tomomi Inada, administrative reform minister — made their pilgrimage to the shrine, together with 102 Diet members.

Abe joined Emperor Akihito at a ceremony at a Tokyo arena where they bowed before a backdrop of white and yellow chrysanthemums in respect for the war dead.

Abe has said he regrets not visiting Yasukuni on the anniversary during his first term in 2006-07.

Abe also failed to pledge not to fight a war in the future, as his predecessors did in previous speeches at the memorial ceremonies.

"Abe's failure to apologize to Japan's victimized neighbors has made it clear that his ruling Cabinet is the most nationalistic in recent years," said Yang Bojiang, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

A recent poll showed that 56 percent of Japanese supported a visit by Abe to the Yasukuni.

Compared with his restrained attitude in his first term, Abe has shown a stronger will in pushing ahead with right-wing policies, which will lead to further friction with its neighbors, including China and South Korea, Yang warned.

Beijing strongly condemned the visits of Japanese Cabinet members to the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, with Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoning the Japanese ambassador to China, Masato Kitera, to express the anger.

"No matter in what form or name a Japanese leader pays tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine, its essence is to try to deny and glorify Japan's militarist past of aggression and challenge the post-World War II international order," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

Tetsuya Takahashi, a professor at Tokyo University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, said it is an improper historical perception that the war dead in Japan's aggressions should be worshipped as "gods" and commended for their deeds.

Liu Jiangyong, an expert on Japanese studies and the deputy dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University, said Abe's decision to make a ritual offering instead of visiting the shrine is his tactic for repairing ties with neighboring countries.

"However, by making an ornamental offering to the shrine, he has shown an ingrained nationalistic sentiment, which will never appease Asian neighbors," Liu warned.

South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said in a statement that leading Japanese politicians and Cabinet members "still turn a blind eye to history".

In his proposal on improving China-Japan relations, Shin Kawashima, director of the CSIS-Nikkei virtual think tank, said the two countries should have dialogues and seek common interests as a way to mend ties when they mark the 35th anniversary of the China-Japan Treaty on Peace and Friendship this year.

He hopes that Japanese Cabinet members treat Yasukuni visits with caution.

In a letter to Abe published in Japan Times, J. F. van Wagtendonk, president of the Foundation of Japanese Honorary Debts in The Hague, asked Abe to face Japan's war responsibility. "You cannot pass this responsibility to your and Japan's children."

(Source: China Daily, AFP)

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Japan right-wing party scores landslide election win

Hawkish Shinzo Abe to return as prime minister, vowing tough stance on China

 

Japan's Yoshihiko Noda,the leader of the losing Democratic Party of Japan, told voters: 'I apologize deeply for our failure to achieve results.' (Issei Kato/Reuters

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP) won by a landslide in Sunday's House of Representatives election as it solo secured 294 seats in the election.

The LDP's key ally, the New Komeito Party, got 31 seats, helping the two-party coalition gain 325 seats in the lower house.

The Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leader Shinzo Abe served as Prime Minister from 2006 to 2007. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters) Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party returned to power in a landslide election victory Sunday after three years in opposition, exit polls showed, signalling a rightward shift in the government that could further heighten tensions with rival China.

The victory means that the hawkish former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will get a second chance to lead the nation after a one-year stint in 2006-2007. He would be Japan's seventh prime minister in six-and-a-half years.

Public broadcaster NHK's exit polls projected that the LDP, which ruled Japan for most of the post-World War II era until it was dumped in 2009, won between 275 and 300 seats in the 480-seat lower house of parliament. Official results were not expected until Monday morning. Before the election, it had 118 seats.

The results were a sharp rebuke for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's ruling Democratic Party of Japan, reflecting widespread unhappiness for its failure to keep campaign promises and get the stagnant economy going during its three years in power.

With Japan stuck in a two-decade slump and receding behind China as the region's most important economic player, voters appeared ready to turn back to the LDP.

A serious-looking Abe characterized the win as more of a protest vote against the DPJ than a strong endorsement of his party.

"I think the results do not mean we have regained the public's trust 100 per cent. Rather, they reflect 'no votes' to the DPJ's politics that stalled everything the past three years," he told NHK. "Now we are facing the test of how we can live up to the public's expectations, and we have to answer that question."

The ruling Democrats, which won in a landslide three years ago amid high hopes for change, captured less than 100 seats, exit polls indicated, down sharply from its pre-election strength of 230.

Calling the results "severe," Noda told a late-night news conference he was stepping down to take responsibility for the defeat.

'It was the voters' judgment to our failure to live up to their expectations.'—Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on his party's loss

"I apologize deeply for our failure to achieve results," he said. "It was the voters' judgment to our failure to live up to their expectations during our three years and three months of leadership."

The LDP will stick with its long-time partner New Komeito, backed by a large Buddhist organization, to form a coalition government, party officials said. Together, they will probably control about 320 seats, NHK projected — a two-thirds majority that would make it easier for the government to pass legislation.

Noda said a special parliamentary session would be held before year-end to pick a new prime minister. As leader of the biggest party in the lower house, Abe will almost certainly assume that post.

The new government will need to quickly deliver results ahead of upper house elections in the summer. To revive Japan's struggling economy, Abe will likely push for increased public works spending and lobby for stronger moves by the central bank to break Japan out of its deflationary trap.

'Restore some national pride'

Still, some voters said they supported the LDP's vows to build a stronger, more assertive country to answer increasing pressure from China and threats of North Korean rocket launches. Abe has repeatedly said he will protect Japan's "territory and beautiful seas" amid a territorial dispute with China over some uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
 
The nationalistic, populist Japan Restoration Party is also expected to capture a few seats and perhaps, form a coalition with the new ruling party. (Yuriko Nakao/Reuters)

 "
I feel like the LDP will protect Japan and restore some national pride," Momoko Mihara, 31, said after voting for the Liberal Democrats in the western Tokyo suburb of Fuchu. "I hope Mr. Abe will stand tall."

The LDP may also have benefited from voter confusion over the dizzying array of more than 12 parties.

One of the new parties, the right-leaning, populist Japan Restoration Party, won between 40 to 61 seats, NHK projected. The party, led by the bombastic nationalist ex-Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara and Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto — both of whom are polarizing figures with forceful leadership styles — could become a future coalition partner for the LDP, analysts said.

Ishihara was the one who stirred up the latest dispute with China over the islands when he proposed that the Tokyo government buy them from their private Japanese owners and develop them.

In this first election since the March 11, 2011, earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters, atomic energy ended up not being a major election issue even though polls show about 80 per cent of Japanese want to phase out nuclear power.

'We're not like Germany'

In the end, economic concerns won out, said Kazuhisa Kawakami at Meiji Gakuin University.

'The economy has been in dire straits these past three years, and it must be the top priority.'—Shinzo Abe

"We need to prioritize the economy, especially since we are an island nation," he said. "We're not like Germany. We can't just get energy from other countries in a pinch."

The staunchly anti-nuclear Tomorrow Party — which was formed just three weeks ago —captured between six and 15 seats, NHK estimated.

Abe's Political History

During his previous tenure as prime minister, Abe pursued a nationalistic agenda pressing for more patriotic education and upgrading the defence agency to ministry status.

He also insisted there was no proof Japan's military had coerced Chinese, Korean and other women into prostitution in military brothels during Japan's wartime aggression in Asia. He later apologized but lately has suggested that a landmark 1993 apology for sex slavery needs revising.

Abe has said he regrets not visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals, during his term as prime minister. China and South Korea oppose such visits, saying they reflect Japan's reluctance to fully atone for its wartime atrocities.

Tomorrow Party head Yukiko Kada said she was very disappointed to see LDP, the original promoter of the nuclear energy policy — and still the most pro-nuclear party — making a big comeback.

Abe, 58, is considered one of the more conservative figures in the increasingly conservative LDP.

It remains to be seen how he will behave this time around, though he is talking tough toward China, and the LDP platform calls developing fisheries and setting up a permanent outpost in the disputed islands, called Senkakus by Japan and Daioyu by China — a move that would infuriate Beijing.

The LDP wants to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to strengthen its Self-Defence Forces and, breaching a postwar taboo, designate them as a "military." It also proposes increasing Japan's defence budget.

It's not clear, however, how strongly the LDP will push such proposals.

"The economy has been in dire straits these past three years, and it must be the top priority," Abe said in a televised interview. "We must strengthen our alliance with the U.S. and also improve relations with China, with a strong determination that is no change in the fact the Senkaku islands are our territory." - CBCnews

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75th anniversary of Nanjing massacre

75th anniversary of Nanjing massacre

History of Nanjing Massacre





December the 13th marks the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre. A series of official memorials have been held in the eastern China city to commemorate the estimated 300 thousand Chinese killed by Japanese troops during World War Two.

An unforgettable part of history for Chinese people.

Sirens wailed in the chilling morning... Nanjing was in grief as people from across the city, and the world, gathered here to mourn the estimated 300,000 lives taken by Japanese troops 75 years ago.

During World War Two, the Japanese army invaded almost half of China, causing tens of millions of casualties and devestating cities and towns. The then Chinese capital, Nanjing, suffered six weeks of murder and rape.

Every year, the siren rings here in front of the memorial museum, reminding the city of the nightmare in 1937.

On December 9th that year, after securing control of Shanghai, Japanese troops launched a massive attack upon Nanjing. Four days later, the city fell.

In the following six weeks, the Japanese forces engaged in an orgy of murder, rape, looting and arson that came to be known as the Nanjing Massacre.

Chinese and Western eyewitness accounts have documented the crimes. On December 19th, Reverend James McCallum wrote in his diary:

"I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least one thousand cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet. People are hysterical... The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases."

The International Military Tribunal of the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials, estimated more than 200-thousand people had died in the Nanjing Massacre. Most experts put that number at about 300-thousand.

Japanese newspaper covered one of the most notorious atrocities... a killing contest between two Japanese officers. Toshiaki Mukai and Tsuyoshi Noda competed to be the first to kill 100 people with a sword.

Although today the Japanese government has admitted to the killings, some Japanese nationalist groups deny these events ever took place.

There are misunderstandings of this history, we want to tell the world the right facts. He says.

Many Japanese prime ministers have visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a shrine for Japanese soldiers who died during World War 2. These include the criminals of the Nanjing Massacre. To this day, the tragedy of Nanjing continues to be a stumbling block in Japan’s relations with other Asian nations.

The memorial was held at a square in front of the memorial hall for the Chinese victims massacred by Japanese soldiers. The crowd mourned the dead and presented wreaths.

A citizen representative read the Nanjing Peace Declaration.

Citizen representative, Nanjing city, said,"Peace rather than war, development rather than poverty, cooperation rather than confrontation is the eternal theme of human civilization and progress."

The mourners included local school children, college students, survivors of the massacre and international friends.

The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall is an important reminder of the past and a place to mourn the dead.

By recalling the past, the memorial also conveys Chinese people’s wishes for peace with all nations in the world.

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News for 75th anniversary of Nanjing massacre

1. The Nanjing Massacre: Scenes from a Hideous Slaughter 75 Years Ago

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Japan stole Diaoyu Islands

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has accused Tokyo of stealing disputed islands. Source: AAP

United Nations:  CHINESE Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has sparked angry exchanges at the UN by accusing Japan of stealing disputed islands. 

Chinese and Japanese envoys had the exchanges on Thursday after Yang heightened tensions over the East China Sea islands, and reopened old diplomatic wounds over World War II.

The Japanese government's purchase of the uninhabited islands from a private owner this month has infuriated Beijing and set off violent protests in China.

"China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty, take concrete actions to correct its mistakes and return to the track of resolving the dispute through negotiation," Yang told the UN assembly.

He reaffirmed his country's claim that Japan tricked China into signing a treaty ceding the islands in 1895.

Japan says the islands were legally incorporated into its territory.

"The moves taken by Japan are totally illegal and invalid," the Chinese minister said.

"They can in no way change the historical fact that Japan stole Diaoyu and its affiliated islands from China and the fact that China has territorial sovereignty over them."

Japan's move was in "outright denial" of its defeat in World War II, he added, reaffirming China's repeated references to the 1939-45 war.

Yang's speech sparked sharp exchanges between Japanese and Chinese diplomats as each sought a right of reply.

Japan's deputy UN ambassador, Kazuo Kodama, said that "an assertion that Japan took the islands from China cannot logically stand".

Kodama added the references to World War II were "unconvincing and unproductive".

China's UN envoy Li Baodong responded: "The Japanese delegate once again brazenly distorted history, resorting to spurious fallacious arguments that defy all reason and logic to justify their aggression of Chinese territory.

"The Japanese government still clings to its obsolete colonial mindset.

"China is capable of safeguarding the integrity of its territory."

When Kodama responded that the islands "are clearly an inherent territory of Japan", Li returned to the attack.

He  said his Japanese counterpart "feels no guilt for Japan's history of aggression and colonialism".

The Japanese government's purchase of the islands was based purely on "the logic of robbers", he stormed.

China has demanded the return of the uninhabited islands, known as the Diaoyu in Chinese and the Senkaku in Japanese, for decades. Taiwan also claims the islands. -  AFP/Agencies

A man reads the white paper on the Diaoyu Islands at a bookstore in downtown Beijing on Friday. The white paper, entitled Diaoyu Islands, an Inherent Territory of China, published in Chinese, English and Japanese, hit the market on Friday. It has been issued both at home and abroad to assert China's sovereignty over the island and its affiliated islets. Photo: Guo Yingguang/GT

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi accused Japan of stealing the Diaoyu Islands in an address to the UN General Assembly in New York Thursday, urging it to immediately stop infringing on China's territorial sovereignty, correct its mistakes through concrete actions and return to the track of resolving the disputes through negotiation.

Yang used the general debate of the ongoing session of the UN General Assembly to state China's stance over recent rows stirred up by Japan's "nationalization" of the islets.

His remarks came after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's insistence that no territorial issue exists over the islets during a speech on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

"The Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets have been an integral part of China's territory since ancient times," Yang said. "China has indisputable historical and legal evidence in this regard."

Yang said Japan stole the islands in 1895 at the end of the Sino-Japanese War and forced the Chinese government to sign an unequal treaty to cede these islands and other Chinese territories.

After World War II, the Diaoyu Islands and other Chinese territories occupied by Japan were returned to China in accordance with the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and other international documents, he said.

The Chinese Foreign Minister stated that, by taking such unilateral actions as the "island purchase," the Japanese government had grossly violated China's sovereignty.

"This is an outright denial of the outcome of the victory in the global anti-fascist war and poses a grave challenge to the post-war international order and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter," he said.

Yang emphasized that the moves taken by Japan are totally "illegal" and "invalid," which can in no way change the "historical fact" that Japan stole the Diaoyu Islands from China and the fact that China has territorial sovereignty over them.

 "The Chinese government is firm in upholding China's territorial sovereignty," he added.
>In a rebuttal session following Yang's speech, Li Baodong, China's permanent representative to the UN, said that "the Japanese government still clings to its old-time colonial mindset," the Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to Xinhua, Li said Japan's "purchase" of the islands is based purely on "the logic of robbers."

"Its purpose is to legalize the stealing and occupation of the Chinese territory through this illegal means and to confuse international public opinion and deceive the people of the world," Li was quoted by Xinhua.

Zhou Hongjun, a professor with the International Law Faculty at the East China University of Politics and Law, told the Global Times that Japan's denial of any territorial issue is void.

The countermeasures taken by China have put the waters off the Diaoyu Islands under the substantial control of both China and Japan, reversing Japan's "illegal" control of the area in recent years, said Zhou.

"We ought to consolidate and extend our progress," Zhou said.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Yang met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday.

Reuters quoted a senior US State Department official as saying that during the talks, Clinton said it was important to ratchet down the quarrel over the islands that has soured ties between Asia's two largest economies.

"We believe that Japan and China have the resources, have the restraint, and have the ability to work on this directly and take tensions down," the official said.

Separately, the Chinese embassy in Tokyo said in a statement on its website that it received a suspicious envelope on Thursday, and that after an inspection by Japanese police, a rifle bullet was found in the envelope on Friday.

The embassy said that the Japanese police are investigating the incident, and the embassy has demanded Japanese police take concrete measures to protect the safety of Chinese organizations, enterprises and citizens in Japan.

Kyodo reported that the envelope bore the name of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

A spokeswoman at the prime minister's office only said that Noda had not sent the bullet, without elaborating on any action it might take, reported AFP. - Agencies

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