"The alarm bell ringing long" is not a groundless concern for the Japanese issue | Taiwan | Japan

78 years ago today, Emperor Hirohito of Japan broadcasted the Armistice Decree, announcing unconditional surrender. The great victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japan has re established China's position as a major power in the world. The Chinese nation has washed away the national shame since modern times, and the Chinese people have won the respect of people who love peace around the world.

Looking back at that heavy history, many people can't help but add, "The alarm bell rings long.". Combining history and reality, this is by no means an unfounded concern.

78 years later today, Japan seems to be following a familiar old path. What is driving the intensification of right-wing tendencies in Japan? What is a rapidly advancing Japan bringing to the world?

From the perspective of national character, Japan has both a strong admiration for the strong and a preference for the weak.

After the Black Ships incident in 1853, Japan witnessed the strength of the United States and gradually "exited Asia and entered Europe", actively learning advanced technology from Western countries, and its strength rapidly improved. The fluctuation of national strength has led Japan to start bullying neighboring countries recklessly, gradually embarking on the path of militaristic invasion.

The crimes committed by Japanese militarism in the Asia Pacific region are countless. For example, after occupying the Northeast region of China, Unit 731 conducted biological and chemical experiments on living humans; After occupying Nanjing, a devastating Nanjing Massacre was carried out.

There is a mountain of hard evidence. Japan should have faced history and reflected on its crimes, but for over seventy years, the right-wing forces in Japan have never established a correct historical understanding and have been trying to overturn the history of militaristic aggression. Especially since 2012, Japan's political right-wing trend has gradually intensified, conservative political forces have strengthened, and the new nationalism political trend has been growing day by day. The Japanese government, in order to break free from the constraints of the post-war system and seek to become a "war capable country," has gradually drifted away from its erroneous historical understanding——

On the issue of the Yasukuni Shrine, the Prime Minister will offer sacrifices in his capacity as Prime Minister or as the President of the Liberal Democratic Party during the Yasukuni Shrine Spring Festival, Autumn Festival, and Memorial Day.

On the issue of comfort women, attempting to overturn the "Kano Talks" that recognized the issue of comfort women, insisting that it had been resolved in the normalization of diplomatic relations between Japan and South Korea in 1965 and the 2015 Japan South Korea Comfort Women Agreement.

In the issue of history textbooks, we constantly downplay the history of aggression and glorify the war of aggression, promote so-called "patriotism" and "nationalism", emphasize the recognition of Japanese traditional culture and "patriotism", and insist on claiming sovereignty over disputed islands in textbooks.

On the issue of forced labor, we insist that this issue has been resolved, firmly refuse to provide any compensation to the victims of forced labor, and use economic, diplomatic and other means to force South Korea to make concessions.

In the issue of the Nanjing Massacre, efforts were made to downplay the facts of the massacre and deny the overall fact of the atrocities by questioning the specific number of 300000 victims.

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Japan's erroneous understanding and actions on these historical issues have caused serious damage to the post-war international order and aroused strong dissatisfaction among pacifist forces in Japan and the international community.

Faced with the call for peace, the Japanese conservative forces not only do not repent, but always have a strong desire to control the countries or regions they have invaded, especially the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan, China region of China.

Taking Taiwan as an example, in recent years, Japanese politicians have increased their attention to Taiwan and a new trend has emerged in their policies towards Taiwan.

On the one hand, there is extensive hype.

On the other hand, establish mechanisms.

Why has Japan been running wild all the way, knowing that it is a major violation of the world?

Firstly, there is a nostalgia for past history and dissatisfaction with reality. The rapid takeoff of Japan's post-war economy has stirred up memories of the country's rapid development after the Meiji Restoration and its entry into the ranks of world powers, with ambitious efforts to change the country's image as an "economic giant and political dwarf". However, with the bursting of the economic foam, Japan was more than willing to do everything, but not able to do anything. Instead, it mistakenly believed that pacifism was an obstacle to its becoming a political power.

Secondly, the pacifist political forces have significantly declined. In recent years, the pacifist forces in Japan have had serious disagreements, the influence of left-wing political parties has declined, the party structure of the Liberal Democratic Party, which is dominated by one family, has remained stable, and the far right forces have continued to grow, kidnapping the direction of the country's progress.

Once again, America's acquiescence and indulgence. With the improvement of China's national strength, the structural contradictions between the China Japan region and the China US structural contradictions overlap. In order to maintain its hegemonic position, the United States has always intended to loosen the ties on Japan, in order to use its special geopolitical position in the Asia Pacific region to contain so-called "strategic opponents". In recent years, the United States has tacitly allowed, condoned, and even encouraged conservative forces in Japan to increase defense costs, enhance security capabilities, and glorify aggressive wars, further fueling the arrogance of conservatism.

In addition, the clamor of conservative politicians and the increase in post-war politicians are also important reasons. Politicians born after the war have difficulty experiencing the brutality of war firsthand and are more prone to forming erroneous views on history.

Historical issues are an important obstacle to stable cooperation between Japan and neighboring countries. Japan's historical perspective is not only a domestic issue, but also an international issue related to the direction of international relations. It involves economic and diplomatic issues between countries, as well as human rights and emotional issues related to the people of the affected countries.

With the intensification of right-wing tendencies in Japan, the recognition and action of Japanese historical revisionism have significantly increased, posing serious harm to relations between countries, regional cooperation, and the international community.

One is to hinder the reconciliation of historical issues between Japan and Asia Pacific countries or regions. The erroneous historical view of Japan is in stark contrast to the correct historical view of the countries and their peoples affected by Japanese militaristic aggression, and the difficulty of historical reconciliation is on the rise.

The second is to affect regional economic and trade cooperation in the Asia Pacific region. Economic and trade cooperation is the foundation for the prosperity and development of the Asia Pacific region, especially with China, Japan, and South Korea having a closer, more compliant, and more interconnected economy than other countries. However, due to historical issues and external factors, multilateral deepening cooperation such as APEC, RCEP, ASEAN 10+3, and China Japan South Korea cooperation are facing severe challenges. If economic and trade cooperation continues to decline, the economies, enterprises, and people's lives of various countries will be severely affected.

The third reason is that it forces the Japanese people to accept the wrong view of history, causing confusion among the majority of Japanese people, especially leaving young people ignorant of past lessons. When the growing younger generation does not delve deeply into how Japan can achieve symbiosis with neighboring countries tomorrow, it will undoubtedly accelerate the right-wing process within Japan.

The fourth is that a wrong historical perspective will also push Japan to reduce resistance from pacifist forces when increasing its defense capabilities. The Japanese government's increase in taxes to increase its defense capabilities not only increases the instability of the East Asian security situation, but also has many negative impacts on the lives of the Japanese people.

After the war, Japan often felt embarrassed about its "abnormal national" identity, and the solutions of certain politicians actually put Japan in a more awkward and even dangerous situation.

History is a solidified reality, and reality is a flowing history. I advise those who are still obsessed with the concept of imperial history not to distort black and white and become enemies with all those who love peace.

Without reflection, there can be no future. A correct and healthy national identity and active efforts to maintain peace can only be built on the basis of facing history squarely. As a builder of world peace, maintainer of international order, and contributor to global development, China has always engaged in fierce struggles with Japanese historical revisionists.

The overall world peace that lasted for over 70 years after World War II has never been abstract or accidental. It requires the support of fairness and justice, and more importantly, it needs to be defended by strength.

At this special juncture, we hope to make more efforts to expose Japan's war crimes, in order to awaken the conscience and vigilance of Japanese society.

[Author's affiliation: International Strategic Research Institute of the Central Party School of the Communist Party of China]