INTERNATIONAL, JAPAN, COMMENTARY: My Appeal to Japan
By Julia Zhu
Recently, the Japanese government seems to be making a great effort to break the age-old ice with China. Japanese prime minister Koizumi's private meeting with president Hu Jintao on November 21st in Santiago; his promise to reconsider the problem of his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine every December 2; and Japan's call for more talks between the two countries, are all tributes to this effort.
But behind the scenes there are some essential historical issues to be dealt with, such as disputes over fishing rights and the territoriality of certain islands; the conflict over Russian energy resources; and Japan's hazy idea towards the Taiwan issue. Though Japan has constantly been expressing its "strong" wish to settle its problems with China and appears to be working hard to improve the mutual relationship, its efforts are, in my eyes, quite superficial and seldom hit any substantial point. Japan has shown little sincerity throughout the course of its relations with China.
As we all know, the theme of the world today is Peace and Development. Therefore, I can see no reason why China and Japan, two major powers in East Asia, shouldn't develop a harmonious and peaceful good-neighbor relationship. Certainly tremendous progress has been made in economic cooperation and development: Japan has been the biggest trade partner of China for ten years running and, on the other hand, China has been Japan's second largest market for many years.
Financially, the two countries are becoming more influential upon each other than ever before. However, when we cast our eye into politics, little improvement can be seen. Though both sides realize the practical reality that, "divided, both sides will suffer; and unified, both sides will benefit," considerable divergence over serious problems prevents both from taking further reconciliation steps, and even confuses them with the question of whether they are friends or rivals.
Apart from what I have mentioned, the crux of this confusion, as I see it, is the continuous denial of the brutal crimes Japan committed during World War II and the constant visits to Yasukuni Shrine paid by senior officials. The stand of our country is clear on this issue: Forgetting history amounts to treachery.
We are sincerely thankful for Japan's economic help over the past 25 years, but it does not mean we can forget the great disaster Japan brought to our country and the bloody crimes it committed on our land. No matter how reasonable they appear when defending their denial of history, we can never forgive it.
Knowing we will never compromise, Japan is still using every means to disavow and distort those shameful deeds in its history, instead of doing some profound self-inspection. It is true that we should not merely view the entire Sino-Japan relationship in the light of historical problems. But even one drop of water can reflect the effulgence of the sun.
Japan's attitude towards history inevitably drives us into doubting their sincerity and does great harm to any real progress in the two countries' relationship. Here is my appeal to the Japanese government: If you truly wish to create a more harmonious neighborhood, please be sincere, not only with your history but also with what you are doing now.
Recently, the Japanese government seems to be making a great effort to break the age-old ice with China. Japanese prime minister Koizumi's private meeting with president Hu Jintao on November 21st in Santiago; his promise to reconsider the problem of his visits to the Yasukuni Shrine every December 2; and Japan's call for more talks between the two countries, are all tributes to this effort.
But behind the scenes there are some essential historical issues to be dealt with, such as disputes over fishing rights and the territoriality of certain islands; the conflict over Russian energy resources; and Japan's hazy idea towards the Taiwan issue. Though Japan has constantly been expressing its "strong" wish to settle its problems with China and appears to be working hard to improve the mutual relationship, its efforts are, in my eyes, quite superficial and seldom hit any substantial point. Japan has shown little sincerity throughout the course of its relations with China.
As we all know, the theme of the world today is Peace and Development. Therefore, I can see no reason why China and Japan, two major powers in East Asia, shouldn't develop a harmonious and peaceful good-neighbor relationship. Certainly tremendous progress has been made in economic cooperation and development: Japan has been the biggest trade partner of China for ten years running and, on the other hand, China has been Japan's second largest market for many years.
Financially, the two countries are becoming more influential upon each other than ever before. However, when we cast our eye into politics, little improvement can be seen. Though both sides realize the practical reality that, "divided, both sides will suffer; and unified, both sides will benefit," considerable divergence over serious problems prevents both from taking further reconciliation steps, and even confuses them with the question of whether they are friends or rivals.
Apart from what I have mentioned, the crux of this confusion, as I see it, is the continuous denial of the brutal crimes Japan committed during World War II and the constant visits to Yasukuni Shrine paid by senior officials. The stand of our country is clear on this issue: Forgetting history amounts to treachery.
We are sincerely thankful for Japan's economic help over the past 25 years, but it does not mean we can forget the great disaster Japan brought to our country and the bloody crimes it committed on our land. No matter how reasonable they appear when defending their denial of history, we can never forgive it.
Knowing we will never compromise, Japan is still using every means to disavow and distort those shameful deeds in its history, instead of doing some profound self-inspection. It is true that we should not merely view the entire Sino-Japan relationship in the light of historical problems. But even one drop of water can reflect the effulgence of the sun.
Japan's attitude towards history inevitably drives us into doubting their sincerity and does great harm to any real progress in the two countries' relationship. Here is my appeal to the Japanese government: If you truly wish to create a more harmonious neighborhood, please be sincere, not only with your history but also with what you are doing now.
5 Comments:
At 11:26 PM , Anonymous said...
Such typical comments. Blah, blah, blah. I wish your blogsite was WTTOOOCCBWDSOKATIGOBOTL= "We try to observe our own country China but we don't see or know anything that is going on because of the lies"
At 4:44 PM , Anonymous said...
While I don't really consider Japan to be bending over backwards to improve their relationship with China (whether they want to or not), I really don't see China trying very hard to solve the problems between the two countries either. First, there's the recent submarine incident - yes, the Chinese government said something resembling an apology (hmm, sounds familiar), but that sounds slightly aggressive, doesn't it? Submarines in sovereign waters? I'm surprised the Japanese didn't get as upset as the Chinese did when that unarmed spy plane requested an emergency landing in Hainan (all according to international emergency landing protocols).
Actually, the second and larger problem I see with China's relationship with Japan is the blood-boiling anger I see in every Chinese person I meet towards Japan, as if every single Chinese person alive today was in Nanjing during World War II. My country dropped two nuclear bombs (not to mention two larger fire-bombing campaigns) on Japan, but guess what? It's been 60 years, and when I visit Tokyo, no one holds anything against me for something my country did 30 years before I was born. Yet when I attend a party here and a couple of Japanese foreign students arrive, Chinese friends get a look of disgust and start cursing quietly when they learn where these 20 year old kids are from. Students of mine look ready to explode when I tell them that "Actually, you know Japan has been giving development aid to China for years?" because it's impossible in their mind that something nice came out of Japan. There's the hypocrisy of the Zhuhai prostitute incident; some Japanese tourists do what a very, very large portion of Chinese men do but there's no discussion of maybe changing Chinese society. Or how about this sign on a bar in Xi'an stating "JAPANESE FORBID ENTERING"? I don't see the Chinese government doing alot to prevent ignorant prejudice against innocent Japanese citizens; in fact, I think they encourage through selective press coverage and THEIR history textbooks, which are just as subjective as the Japanese ones.
It's one thing to have a beef with a government; it's another to encourage and nurture flat out prejudice against the people under that government. Would you like a foreigner who doesn't approve of the Chinese government blaming you personally for the decisions your government made 60 years ago? Should any living Chinese citizen be blamed today for any terrible things committed by the KMT? Cuz that's pretty much what China, and unfortunately Chinese individuals as well, do to Japan. And all while every single Chinese kid loves Pokemon, but in the same breath hates Japan. Lovely education system you got there.
At 11:18 PM , Julia Zhu said...
Thank you for your comment.
To start with, I think it is necessary for me to make it clear that when saying Japan should be more sincere, I am mainly referring to the Japanese government. I can see that the vagueness of this point has caused a great misunderstanding.
For the Nanjing Slaughter, there are two reasons why until today we still haven’t forgotten it when most of us were not in Nanjing during WWII. First, in this massacre, 300,000 people had been killed within a week, not to mention the number of women that were sexually abused. Do you think that such a disaster concerning our own brothers could be easily forgotten? Second, the Japanese government, instead of confessing and repenting their crimes as Germany has done, is trying every means to cover or beautify it. The “textbook event”, as far as I am concerned, is a strong and obvious evidence to this. But you don’t seem to quite agree with this point. You think that the Chinese history book is no less subjective than Japanese one. For my part, firstly I think absolute objectivity is impossible and secondly, when we are saying objectivity of a certain history book, it should be based on the respect for the historical truth, right? Considering these, I am afraid that I really cannot agree what you said about Chinese and Japanese history books. Many evidences have showed that Nanjing Slaughter is a historical truth, but Japanese history book seems to try to deny it or at least distort it.
In your comment, you list several examples that happened around you showing our people’s hatred towards Japan. We cannot deny in every nation there would be some who go to extreme. But is it right for us to apply the judgement we make on those few to all the people in that nation? If this is the case, then how do you think should we Chinese take the insult of several Japanese people in the Northwest University in China?
As for the development aid Japan has given to our country, I’d rather see it from an economical perspective than raise it to the political level. Actually, not only Japan but also many western countries are offering help to China. Truly this is a nice thing to China. But you think now that Japan has offered some finances to us, it is no doubt doing a nice thing? Then in what way will you define a person who has committed mayhem on person B, giving money to B to make up without an apology?
Perhaps the following case can help explaining another question you’ve raised: There are three men, A, B, and C. They are living together and to some extent depending on each other. For more information, A has a quite strong build, much stronger than B and C, while B and C are more or less of a same build. One day several years ago, B gave C a good beat, which almost killed C and later A gave B almost a similar beat. (We don’t know the reason) Then later on, A said something resembling an apology to B. However, as for B, he had never breathed the word “SORRY “to C. Here come the questions: all things considered, how do you think will B treat A? How do you think should C treat B?
At 7:02 AM , Anonymous said...
U say..
>>If this is the case, then how do you think should we Chinese take the insult of several Japanese people in the Northwest University in China?
I ask:
What is this insult you speak of?
Do not deny that most Chinese hate and insult japanese here all time. We feel it. We come here to learn your language and live with you and it is that you only feel you need someone to look down upon. How sad for us. How poor for you. So look to your own people, your own country, your own bigotry, yes.
A classmate
At 8:43 PM , Anonymous said...
I find it funny that some people said his country dropped two bombs to Japan but Japanese people dont seem to dislike him.Does that mean Japanese people are generous?NO!Americans should remember it was Japan who assailed Pearl Harbour first ,the US Army just did what they ought to. China hadn't done anything harsh to Japanese,on the contry we spread our culture and technology to Japan.As soon as they grew stronger they invaded China.Maybe you think Germany was harsher than Japan during world war two but they have been forgiven long long ago all because their attitude towards behavior.We Chinese people actually don't want to mention historical problem again and again, but Japanese government tries to deny the history.It's add insult to injury.Someone argued that we weren't in Nanjing during WWII,I bet you weren't there either,or you would not have written these.Not only Chinese people have special feeling towards Japan ,Korea and Northern Korea also do.You can say all those because it was not you or your people who suffered.
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