Japan Press Weekly

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2015 March 18 - 24 [POLITICS]

Japan should abide by Tokyo-Beijing-Seoul statement calling for ‘facing history squarely’

Akahata ‘current’ column

The foreign ministers of Japan, China, and South Korea on March 21 held talks for the first time in three years in Seoul. They agreed to hold a meeting attended by their leaders “at the earliest convenience”, which has been suspended for nearly three years. The three ministers also agreed in a joint statement to cooperate “[i]n the spirit of facing history squarely and advancing towards the future”.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel when visiting Japan in early March stated that reflecting on the past is a precondition for reconciliation. She stressed that this was a reason why Germany was able to build friendships with surrounding countries.

In Germany, the previously favorable impression of Japan is now deteriorating. An opinion poll conducted in 2012 showed that 58% of Germans think that Japan has “a positive effect” on the world. However, in 2014 the percentage of those who think so dropped to 28%. Instead, the response of having “a negative effect” jumped to 48% from 29%.

Germany is committed to reconciliation with neighboring nations and regional integration, and after the major nuclear accident occurred in Japan in 2011, Germany decided to break away from nuclear power generation. On the other hand, Japan is seen to be trying to justify its history of aggression since the inauguration of the Abe government late 2012. It has also been eager to resume its operations of nuclear power plants and to export Japan’s nuclear power plant technology to other countries. The present Japanese government apparently has no intention to learn lessons from the past or from other countries.

Professor at Tokyo University of Science Oba Mie, studying regional integration in Asia and the Pacific, said that regionalism in northeast Asia that encompasses Tokyo, Beijing, and Seoul has been “the most tenuous in Asia since the cold war era”. Nevertheless, the three countries jointly moved forward toward establishing a permanent trilateral office in Seoul in 2011.

A Japanese college student who worked as an intern in the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat said, “The staff members from the three countries are working together really well.” The Japanese government should face history squarely. If it refuses to do so, it will continue disappointing people’s expectations for the establishment of truly friendly relations among the three nations.