Japan's historical illusion disdains intl justice: editorial

The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, on Tuesday ran an editorial entitled "The essence of creating historical illusion is to disdain international justice" as follows:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been bombarded by the international community for his wrong words and actions, but he is still incorrigibly obstinate, talking absurdities and repeating his mistakes.

Recently, Abe used various occasions to defend his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A war criminals. He tried his best to stealthily substitute concepts with sheer fabrication and strained interpretation. Most ridiculously, while being interviewed in Davos, Switzerland, Abe compared China-Japan relations to the British-German ties on the eve of World War I. The intrigue of making historical illusions is intended to distract the international community's attentions and confuse right and wrong.

His favorites are also bustling about. Some have denied the Nanjing Massacre, expressing doubt about the just trial of Japanese militarism by the international community. There are those who have beat the drum for the theory that Japan's peaceful constitution is invalid, trying to break the international order safeguarding peace after victory in the world's anti-fascist war. Others have been busy revising standards for the approval of textbooks, asking publishing houses to describe the history of invasion with ambiguous terms, and claiming the Diaoyu Islands, which have belonged to China since ancient times, as an "integral part of Japan." Still others have tried to deny the facts about "comfort women," a war crime with iron-clad evidence.

One should not be ambiguous on major issues of principle. The Japanese right-wing politicians' bungling acts are like performances by clowns occasionally happening on the great stage of history.

However, people have to take a more vigilant attitude toward them, as they are trying to falsify history, challenging human conscience and confronting justice. It is very dangerous.

Abe is wrong, but he sought foundation from pre-WWI history like a hungry man is not choosy about his food. His so-called foundation is purely groundless and unrelated, which has exposed his ulterior motive.

People with basic knowledge of history know that the British-German relations before WWI were of competition between two imperialist countries for overseas colonies. China, however, is a country which had suffered from plundering, bullying and partition by great powers, and a country focuses on maintaining peace and seeking development after winning independence.

China has promised that it will never seek hegemony, and has been widely recognized as a country that advocates peace, development, cooperation and win-win situations.

No matter how it is viewed, China has no similarities with any imperialist countries. Comparing China to Germany before WWI was aimed at covering Japanese right-wing politicians' wrong acts of deviating from the peaceful path. Japan's attempt to achieve historical misconceptions was in defiance of international justice.

Abe's outright distortion of truth and blatant smearing of China using his gangster logic is proof of Japan's refusal to recognize its depraved history of imperialist aggression, expansion and colonial domination, bringing it to the spotlight once again under the scrutiny of the international community.

-- In 1894, Japan waged the First Sino-Japanese War;

-- In 1910, Japan forcefully annexed the Korean Peninsula;

-- In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied northeast China;

-- In 1937, Japan launched an all-out war against China;

-- In 1941, Japan started the Pacific War;

In the face of a blood-stained list of crimes of aggression -- the diabolical biochemical experiments conducted by Unit 731 of the Japanese Imperial Forces, the coercive recruitment of "Comfort Women," and the appalling massacres conducted by the Japanese forces, among others -- the Japanese government nevertheless chose to turn a blind eye to history, worship war criminals and resort to sophistry to hide its past. Such acts will only serve to alienate Japan from international justice.