Abe Should Heed Merkel's Recommendation

Abe Should Heed Merkel's Recommendation
China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC)
A Translation
March 14, 2015

Executive Summary: During a recent visit to Japan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Abe government something it did not want to hear. Japan should face up to its past, and resolve the comfort women issue. This is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Japan has shirked responsibility for sowing East Asian discord. Germany, a fellow World War II Axis Powers aggressor, has urged Japan to repent. If Abe persists in going his own way, Japan will pay a heavy price.

Full Text Below:

During a recent visit to Japan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Abe government something it did not want to hear. Japan should face up to its past, and resolve the comfort women issue. This is the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II. Japan has shirked responsibility for sowing East Asian discord. Germany, a fellow World War II Axis Powers aggressor, has urged Japan to repent. If Abe persists in going his own way, Japan will pay a heavy price.

In 1993, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yohei Kono admitted that the Japanese military enslaved comfort women. He apologized and atoned. In August 1995, on the 50th anniversary of Japan's surrender, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama acknowledged Japan's past policy errors, including initiating wars, colonial rule, and acts of aggression against numerous countries, especially in Asia, and inflicting immense damage and suffering. Japan must engage in self-retrospection, remember the lessons of history, and educate the younger generation about the tragedies of war, in order to avoid repeating past mistakes. Since then, the statements issued by Murayama and Kono have become the official position of later Japanese governments, and have been accepted by neighboring nations victimized by Japanese aggression.

But no sooner did Abe take office, than he began acting on his own right wing ideology. Step by step, he began reversing the verdict of history, and repudiating past acknowledgments of responsibility. He called for an investigation of the Kono Statement, attempting to deny the enslavement of comfort women. He called for a review of the Murayama Statement as well. On the 70th anniversary of V-J Day, he proposed an "Abe Statement" on Japan's war responsibility, in an attempt to rewrite history. Abe's denial that Japan was the aggressor provoked an intense backlash from Mainland China and Korea.

Japan was soundly defeated during World War II. During the Cold War however, it became a US ally. Since then it has followed the United States' lead in foreign policy. A rare exception was when it established diplomatic relations with Mainland China ahead of the United States. This provoked US dissatisfaction. Otherwise, it has seldom gone its own way in international diplomacy. Since Abe became prime minister however, he has twice veered sharply toward rightism in attempts to rewrite history. This has deeply angered Mainland China and South Korea. It has also affected the United States' long term strategy regarding Japan, Korea and Mainland China, and forced the United States to publicly express its disapproval.

In January of this year, US State Department spokesman Jen Psaki praised the apologies issued by former Japanese Prime Minister Murayama and former Cabinet Minister Kono, saying they were important efforts to improve relations with Japan's neighbors. She said the United States hopes Japan will engage in dialogue with neighboring countries, in order to resolve contradictions and historical grievances in a friendly fashion. The US obviously hopes Abe will acknowledge the Murayama Statement and the Kono Statement. The Abe government initially accepted the its predecessors' positions. Now however, past Japanese government efforts to eliminate historical grievances and promote goodwill, have all been undone.

Abe, naturally, has his own political plans, modeled after former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's right-wing ideology. During his first term as prime minister, Abe threw in the towel halfway. During his second term however, he made a comeback, and proposed “three arrows” to revitalize the economy. He paid a hefty price for partial success. Now he has gotten a second wind, and is determined to achieve his goal. The rapid rise of Mainland China has resulted in frequent Mainland patrols in the East China Sea, a new Mainland air defense identification zone, and a firm Mainland declaration of sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands. Japan now feels increasingly threatened. As a result Japan has substantially increased its military budget and island garrisons. The Abe government is aggressively promoting a constitutional amendment, in an attempt to rebuild a "normal nation."

Germany was also an aggressor during World War II. It too was invaded and occupied. It too suffered huge losses in human life. It too suffered ignominious defeat. But Germany's response was totally different from Japan's. Germany has expressed deep remorse for the slaughter of six million Jews. It has hunted down war criminals mercilessly. In 1970, German Chancellor Willi Brandt knelt down before the monument to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In 1995, Helmut Kohl knelt down before the Monument to Holocaust Victims in Israel. The Auschwitz concentration camp has been turned into a memorial site. The German people retain the memory of their cruelty. They have reminded themselves of the crimes they committed, acknowledged their historical guilt, offered compensation, and reminded themselves never to repeat the same mistakes again.

By contrast, in Japan there has been no in depth soul searching over Japan's own war crimes. Many people feel they are victims of the atomic bomb and American militarism. This has led to the sense that Japan is not responsible for the suffering of people in other countries. Even the United States' post-war peace constitution, which imposes constraints on Japan, are perceived as an injustice that represses Japanese military power and reduces it to an “abnormal nation”. Abe's tactic is to incite ultranationalism and incite Japanese anxiety over a strong China. Alas, denying historical guilt is a major mistake.

Merkel spoke plainly. She said "To completely break with the past is impossible. One must face the past squarely." Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito spoke on his birthday recently. He said Japan must humbly face up to its past. The generation that lived through the war must properly convey the tragic history of Japan to a generation that knows nothing about the war. He underscored the importance of the post-war pacifist constitution, clearly directing his remarks toward the Abe government. Abe needs to listen to these inconvenient truths, and think hard on them.

社論－梅克爾的規勸 安倍要聽進去
    2015-03-14 01:28
    中國時報
    本報訊

　德國總理梅克爾最近訪問日本時，對安倍晉三政府發出逆耳諍言，認為日本應正視過去，好好解決慰安婦問題。今年是二次世界大戰結束70周年，日本企圖推卸歷史責任因而引發東亞齟齬，如今同是二戰侵略國的德國提出了規勸，安倍如果仍一意孤行，必將使日本付出沉重代價。

　1993年，時任日本內閣官房長官的河野洋平承認日軍強徵慰安婦，並為此表示道歉與反省。1995年8月，當時的首相村山富市在日本投降50周年發表談話，承認日本過去實行錯誤的國策，走了戰爭道路，日本的殖民統治和侵略給許多國家，特別是亞洲各國人民，帶來了巨大的損害和痛苦。日本要深刻反省歷史，記取歷史教訓，必須把戰爭的悲慘告訴年輕一代，以不再重犯過去的錯誤。自此，河野談話與村山談話便成為日本歷屆政府的官方立場，而且也獲得被侵略受害鄰國的接受。

　但安倍上任後，卻基於他個人及右翼勢力的意識型態，開始一步步鋪陳布局，試圖對歷史翻案，撤回認錯的態度。除提出要調查河野談話的擬定過程，意圖否定官方有參與強徵慰安婦的行為，也打算檢討「村山談話」，在終戰70周年提出「安倍談話」，為日本的戰爭責任重新作個定義，藉此建立自己的歷史地位。安倍否認日本侵略罪行的意圖呼之欲出，引爆中、韓的激烈反彈。

　在二戰中慘敗、接著成為美國冷戰盟友的日本，向來在外交政策上追隨美國，除了和中國建交跑得比美國快而引發老美不滿外，很少在國際外交上特立獨行或自行暴走。但安倍二度出任首相後，大幅走向右傾路線，企圖對歷史罪責翻案，嚴重激怒了中國大陸與南韓，也衝擊美國長期以來與日、韓聯手抗衡中國的基本戰略，逼得美國公開表示不以為然。

　美國國務院發言人莎琪今年1月表示，日本前首相村山富市和前官房長河野洋平的謝罪談話，是日本為改善與鄰國關係做出的重要努力之一，美國希望日本透過對話，以友好的方式解決與鄰國之間圍繞歷史問題產生的矛盾。美方話語中明顯希望安倍繼承村山與河野談話，安倍政府第一時間也表示會繼承之前的談話立場，但過去政府消弭歷史恩怨的努力與善意，已經全被勾消。

　安倍當然有自己的政治盤算，師承前首相小泉純一郎的他，原本意識型態就朝右傾。第一任首相半途落跑，第二任捲土重來祭出振興經濟三隻箭，付出重大代價才略有成效，但如今卻後繼乏力，必須再端政績。加上中國大陸迅速崛起，以頻繁巡航與劃設東海防空識別區等作為，強力宣示釣魚台主權，讓日本受威脅之感與日俱增，因此日方也大幅提高軍事預算及加強離島駐軍，安倍政府更積極推動修憲，試圖重建一個「正常國家」。

　同樣是二戰時的侵略國，同樣造成生靈塗炭，也同樣悽慘落敗，但德國與日本對歷史的反省態度卻完全不同。屠殺了600萬猶太人的德國深切懺悔，追查戰犯毫不手軟，1970年德國總理布蘭特在華沙猶太人殉難紀念碑前下跪，1995年科爾總理也在以色列的猶太人受難紀念碑前下跪，奧許維茲集中營遺址成為紀念館，德國人一一保存並正視自己可怖的殘忍史實，不斷提醒自己曾犯下的罪，持續對歷史過錯心懷愧疚並作出大筆賠償，而且時時警惕自己切勿重蹈覆轍。

　相對的，日本卻對自己的戰爭罪責沒有深入靈魂的反省，許多人覺得自己也是軍國主義與美國原子彈的受害者，對侵略造成他國人民的苦難並無責任之感，甚至對戰後美方主導制定的和平憲法對日本的約束感到不公，覺得軍權被壓制的日本不是一個正常的國家。安倍的種種作法，便是想炒作國家主義，以滿足因中國強大而陷入焦慮的日本民心，但以否定及推卸歷史罪責為手段，卻是大錯特錯了。

　梅克爾的話講得坦白：「要完全與過去了斷是不可能的，必須經常正視過去才是。」日本皇太子德仁日前發表生日談話時也表示，日本應謙虛回顧過去，經歷過戰爭的一代應將悲慘的經驗以及日本走過的歷史，「正確」地傳達給不知戰爭的一代，並強調戰後和平憲法之重要，頗有向安倍政府勸誡之意味。逆耳忠言，安倍應該聽進去，並深自惕厲。