Japan distorts history of aggression in textbook reviews

(ECNS) -- China on Wednesday accused Japan of downplaying its wartime aggression and distorting historical facts through textbook reviews, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. 

Media reported that Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on Tuesday reviewed high school textbooks to be used from 2027. Some include descriptions suggesting there was no coercion of “comfort women” or forced labor and assert that Diaoyu Dao is “Japan’s inherent territory.”

China strongly deplores and firmly opposes this and has lodged serious protests with Japan, spokesperson Lin Jian said.

Japan has yet to make a clean break with militarism after the war, and its Yasukuni war shrine still honors 14 Class-A war criminals, Lin added.

“Forcibly recruiting comfort women and labor is a serious crime against humanity that Japanese militarists committed during their aggression and expansion. These are historical facts backed by solid evidence,” he noted.

He stressed that Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands have been China’s territory since ancient times, over which China has indisputable sovereignty. “No matter what small tricks Japan uses regarding textbooks, they cannot change the fact that Diaoyu Dao belongs to China. Any attempt to undermine China’s territorial sovereignty is futile.”

He noted that the ROK has also lodged serious démarches with Japan to protest contents about Dokdo and comfort women in the textbooks.

“This shows that Japanese far-right moves of distorting history and misleading Japanese people in their view of history have triggered high alert and strong indignation from the international community, including its Asian neighbors,” he said.

Lin urged Japan to look history in the eye, make a clean break with militarism, allow the young generation in Japan to know the true history, properly handle historical issues in a responsible attitude, and avoid losing the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community.