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Shinzo Abe Echoes Japan’s Past World War II Apologies but Adds No More Shinzo Abe Echoes Japan’s Past WWII Apologies but Adds None of His Own
(35 minutes later)
TOKYO — In a keenly awaited statement on Friday to observe the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan acknowledged dark moments in his country’s past and endorsed the repeated apologies his predecessors had made for them. TOKYO — Using the carefully chosen words that govern reckonings with Japan’s militarist past, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated Japan’s official remorse for the suffering it inflicted during World War II on Friday, the 70th anniversary of the war’s end.
But in what could prove to be a contentious break with previous Japanese expressions of contrition over the war, Mr. Abe did not offer a new apology of his own. In a nationally televised address, he described feelings of “profound grief” and offered “eternal, sincere condolences” for the dead. He said Japan had inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering” when it “took the wrong course and advanced along the road to war.”
His statement, delivered in a nationally televised address, appeared calibrated to draw a line under what Mr. Abe and other Japanese conservatives see as an endless and enfeebling cycle of official apologies for Japan’s decades-old conduct. But in a potentially contentious break with previous expressions of contrition by Japanese leaders, Mr. Abe did not offer a new, personal apology of his own.
He said Japan inflicted “immeasurable damage and suffering” when it “took the wrong course and advanced along the road to war.” But he departed from a war-anniversary formula established by two previous Japanese prime ministers, who had offered personal expressions of regret. The decision, the product of months of deliberation, appeared calibrated to address lingering historical resentments in China and South Korea, the Asian nations that bore the brunt of Japan’s often brutal empire building in the first half of the 20th century. But it also drew a line under what Mr. Abe and many of his countrymen see as an endless and enfeebling cycle of apologies for decades-old offenses.
“Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war,” Mr. Abe said. “Such position articulated by the previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future.” “Japan has repeatedly expressed feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war,” Mr. Abe said. “Such positions articulated by previous cabinets will remain unshakable into the future.”
He added, however, “We must not let our children, grandchildren and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize.” But he added that there was a limit to the number of times Japan can apologize.
Mr. Abe included a set of key words — among them acknowledgments of “colonial rule” and “aggression” by Japan — established by two of his predecessors, Tomiichi Murayama and Junichiro Koizumi, who made similar official statements on the 50th and 60th anniversaries of the end of the war. “We must not let our children, grandchildren and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize,” Mr. Abe said. It is enough, he added, “to inherit the past, in all humbleness, and pass it on to the future.”
The phrases have become integral to the delicate linguistic accounting that governs efforts by Japanese leaders to reckon with their country’s militaristic past. Mr. Abe has long sought to break with what conservatives call Japan’s “masochistic” approach to addressing history. Apologies dating to the 1990s have not prevented recurring feuds with China and South Korea, which have their own reasons, political analysts note, for keeping alive public animosity toward Japan.
They have been invoked since Japan started that reckoning in earnest, in the mid-1990s, in an attempt to reset relations with neighboring countries like China and South Korea, where bitterness over Japanese rule is still widely felt. Yet Mr. Abe has also sown doubts about his own commitment to the forthright reckoning with the past that he endorsed on Friday. He has appointed unapologetic revisionists to high-profile public posts, including at the national public broadcaster, NHK, and paid visits to the controversial Yasukuni shrine, where wartime Japanese leaders who were hung for war crimes are enshrined along with millions of fallen soldiers and sailors.
Yet Mr. Abe presented those phrases in a way that was both broader and less personal. Jennifer Lind, an expert on Asia’s history disputes at Dartmouth College, said Japan had acknowledged past wrongdoings more frequently and candidly than any other country. Mr. Abe, for all his flaws as a messenger, is “trying to bring what he sees as balance back to the historical discussion,” she said.
His statement was longer that his predecessors’ and contained more context, including references to Western colonialism, that appeared intended to show Japan’s behavior in a less harsh light. In an initial commentary published online, China’s official Xinhua news agency said Mr. Abe’s speech “trod a fine line with linguistic tricks” and was insincere.
He also drew indirect but unmistakable parallels between Japan’s past as a “challenger” to “international order” and the emergence of an increasingly confident and assertive China.
In an initial commentary published online, China’s official Xinhua news agency said that Mr. Abe’s speech “trod a fine line with linguistic tricks” and was insincere.
“Instead of offering an unambiguous apology, Abe’s statement is rife with rhetorical twists like ‘maintain our position of apology,’ dead giveaways of his deep-rooted historical revisionism, which has haunted Japan’s neighborhood relations,” it said.“Instead of offering an unambiguous apology, Abe’s statement is rife with rhetorical twists like ‘maintain our position of apology,’ dead giveaways of his deep-rooted historical revisionism, which has haunted Japan’s neighborhood relations,” it said.
Tomiichi Murayama, a former prime minister who delivered Japan’s landmark first war apology in 1995, on the 50th anniversary of Japan’s surrender at the war’s end, was also critical.
“He used flowery words and talked at length, but he didn’t make clear why he was doing it,” Mr. Murayama, 91, said on a news program on the Fuji TV network.
Mr. Abe’s statement was longer than Mr. Murayama’s and another, similarly worded statement delivered by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on the 60th anniversary. Mr. Abe’s included context, including references to Western colonialism and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that seemed intended to redress what some Japanese see as an unfairly narrow focus on their country’s misdeeds.
He also drew parallels between history and the present day in ways that seemed likely to antagonize China, even if the absence of a personal apology did not.
A reference in the statement to Japan’s past as a “challenger” to “international order” echoed rhetoric that Mr. Abe has often used to describe China, whose increasing willingness to assert its power in the region has included challenging Japanese control over islands in the East China Sea.
Mr. Abe sharpened the reference further in response to questions from the media.
“Ukraine, the South China Sea, the East China Sea — – no matter where in the world, attempts to change the status quo by force cannot be tolerated,” he said.
“Transmitting the lessons of 70 years ago carries great meaning for the present day, not only for Japan but the world.”