On Feb. 27 2014, China's top legislature approved two new national days, one to mark victory in the anti-Japanese war, and the other to commemorate Nanjing Massacre victims during the Japanese aggression against China. Japan has responded by claiming China is trying to exploit these 'national days' to create anti-Japanese sentiment.

It is likely that many Japanese nowadays think that what their predecessors did has nothing to do with them, or become puzzled about why the Chinese still focus so much attention on something that happened 69 years ago. It is hardly surprising that oppressors should choose to deliberately avoid the past, and that butchers should attempt to distort the history of their actions. But Japanese people would understand better why the Chinese keep the past in mind if they put themselves in the shoes of Chinese victims.

For their own purposes, some countries choose not to or dare not bring up the subject of the war of Japanese aggression, but the past cannot be changed by refusing to mention it. The Second World War will not be erased from history. America will never forget the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Pacific war that followed, neither will many Southeast Asian countries forget that the invading Japanese troops laid their lands to ruin and enslaved their peoples. Japan was the defeated country and must accept the international order that ensued.

Yoshihide Suga, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, said on Feb. 27 that Japan was "puzzled" about the creation of these new national days, coming decades after the war came to an end.

No one claims that this generation of Japanese has waged aggressive war. But it is inevitable that the denial and distortion by certain Japanese of the country’s history of aggression will incur the indignation of the victims.

A wise nation learns to take lessons from its historical misdeeds, rather than covering them up. Dealing with Sino-Japanese ties in accordance with the principle of "taking history as a mirror to look into the future" makes sense. Japan has a disgraceful past. If Japan refuses to reflect on that past, it will invite further trouble.

The article is edited and translated from《为什么念念不忘历史》, source: People's Daily, author: Jin Caiwei.