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 If
the armed forces of a country
forcibly or aggressively
enter territory controlled by another
country, it is “invasion,” pure and simple. But a Japanese politician
seems to think quite differently. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe recently stirred up outrage of the peoples in
the countries his nation invaded in the early 1900s, when he said,
“There are no international or academic definitions of invasion.”
Abe went so far as to deny Japan ever invaded its
Asian neighbors. He told Japanese parliamentarians on April 23 that
he wonders if Japan’s occupation of other Asian
countries during World War Two can be considered “invasion.” As
for the definition of the word “invasion,” he added, “It depends
on the point of view of individual countries.”
 The
day when Abe denied Japan’s invasion of its neighbors in the past,
168 Japanese parliamentarians visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a controversial war shrine
in Tokyo, where 14 leading war criminals are enshrined
alongside 2.5 million other people. Three Cabinet members did the same
the previous day. And Abe defended them and dismissed criticism, saying,
“Our ministers will never cave in to any threats.”
However, Abe relented a little on May
8 by saying, “Japan brought about great damage and suffering to
Asians.” But when he said this, he still omitted mentioning the
word “invasion.” His latest comment was believed to be a move to
calm down the outraged sentiments in South Korea
and China to some extent.
By all appearances, Abe has crossed the diplomatic “red line.” His
remarks clash with the universal
view of history. Is he nostalgic about the status
the imperial Japan once held in the past? Japan’s war crimes were
no less atrocious than the Nazi’s.
Nonetheless, he attempted to deny his country invaded its neighbors
and committed many unforgivable
barbarities. Then what is
invasion?
 No glib
sophistry can remove his country’s war crime stains. Does he believe he
can blot out the sun with his hands? Many victims of Japan’s atrocities
are still alive and bear testimony to what the imperial
Japanese soldiers did to them and their countries. We just hope
that the Japanese will regain their reason and learn to view history
as it happened. Why can’t they learn from what the Germans did after
World War Two? It has been almost seven long decades since the war
came to an end. But the Japanese are still denying what their country
did… |
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