INTERNATIONAL, SINO - JAPANESE RELATIONS, Opinion: Spirits Sobbing in the Wind

By Linda Lynn

I haven't had a single night of sound sleep in a month because of the spirits I hear sobbing in the wind. I've never been a religious or superstitious person, but I hear these spirits sobbing, stirred up by great human indignities.

Many of my countrymen hear it too--the sob of our late parents and grandparents, and tens of millions of other victims in the War of Resistance against Japan (1937 - 45).

Many westerners cannot understand why Chinese people can never let go of that past. Simply ask yourself a question: How would you feel if Germans denied the existence of the Nazi death camps?

In early March of this year, Japanese Foreign Minister, Nobutaka Machimura, openly denied the barbaric 1937 Nanjing Massacre, in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese were slaughtered by Japanese aggressors.

While the German Premier kneeled down to 忏悔 to the Jewish victims, the Japanese Prime Minister kneels down annually to honor the 14 Japanese Class-A war criminals, despite all of the fierce opposition from neighboring countries. On the first day of a visit I made to Berlin, the German senior high school student who received me took me to the Jewish Memorial Hall. She told me that their young generation would never forget the shameful past of their country.

But the Japanese government bans their students in China from visiting museums memorializing the War of Resistance against Japan. Their young generations do not know their country's past. Before we can manage to get over the hurt feelings, a new Japanese history textbook is unveiled whitewashing Japan's wartime past, under the screening of the Japanese Education Ministry.

Now, and in the future, Japanese youth will think us Chinese insane when we talk about their invading troops forcing so many young Chinese women into being teenage sex slaves for Japanese soldiers; mobilizing men for labor under dehumanizing conditions; and even changing the name of the country "China" into "Sino" so that "Japan" transcended it in alphabetical order.

Probably in these youngsters' eyes, the historical "truth" is that innumerable Japanese soldiers once went for a very long holiday or to construction projects in China and greatly and heroically helped China with its modernization.

However, this outrageous deed was only a prelude. On May 16, the Japanese Prime Minister indicated his plan for another visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, the fifth time since he took office in 2001. It is really astounding, how can people who are so ignorant of their own country’s history govern the country? They shouldn't have been allowed to graduate from primary school.

If they do know historical truth, how can cheaters without the slightest sense of responsibility govern a country? Ironically, this strange and most ridiculous thing is exactly what has happened in Japan for decades.

But above all, the most regretful thing is that despite its notorious history and recent outrageous deeds, Japan is now bidding for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and Mr. Annan appears to back Japan's candidacy as part of his reform of the UN. We perfectly understand the UN's call for reform and actively support it. However, what should be reformed is the operating system, not the fundamental duty and mission of the organization. If money talks louder than justice and truth, Mr. Annan is certainly pushing the credibility and authority of the UN into a serious crisis.

There is an old fable in China: A thief wants to steal a bell. So he covers up his ears believing that, like him, others will not hear the bell ring. Even little kids find this thief silly, but Japan is doing the same thing as the thief.

The Japanese believe they can reverse history by distorting their textbooks; but from beginning to end they are making fools of themselves. We are not begging for sympathy or hypocritical apologies, but demanding to preserve the truth of human history.

As long as Japan refuses to correct its attitude over historical issues and continues to provoke its neighbors, it can only be an economic giant but a political dwarf. What these shameful deeds bring Japan is endless hatred from young Asian generations haunted by spirits sobbing in the wind.