Japan Press Weekly

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2015 April 22 - 28 [POLITICS]

New statement will not refer to Japan’s aggression: PM Abe

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo said on a news program aired on April 20 that his statement to be issued this summer to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II will not refer to Japan’s aggression against other Asian nations.

Abe said, “If the new statement is the same as the past one, there would be no need to make it,” and “As long as I say that my cabinet basically follows successive governments’ understanding of history, it is unnecessary to repeat the same wording used in the past statements.”

In the statement released in August 1995, then Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi expressed his “deep remorse” and “heartfelt apology” to the people of other Asian countries which suffered “tremendous damage” caused by Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression”.

It is an obvious contradiction when PM Abe says that he will not include these key phrases in his statement while claiming that he “follows” the Murayama Statement. This stance shows Abe’s attempt to whitewash Japan’s history of aggression.

An ex-official of the Foreign Ministry criticized Abe for using ambiguous wording like “basically” following his predecessors’ historical interpretation. The official said to Akahata, “If the prime minister fails to acknowledge the validity of the points made in the past official statements, it will inevitably provoke international criticism.”


Past related article:
> Abe’s ‘remorse’ for past war of aggression only empty words [March 3, 2015]