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Chinese Scholars Protest Japanese History-distorting Textbook
A group of Chinese scholars in Japan issued a statement on Wednesday, urging the Japanese government to properly handle the issue concerning a junior high school history textbook written by some Japanese historians trying to distort history and justify Japan's past aggression against its Asian neighbors.
Correctly understanding the past history is a political foundation not only for Sino-Japanese relations, but also for the lasting friendship between the two peoples, the group, formed by more than 100 Chinese researchers and professors working in Japan' s universities, research institutes and enterprises, said in the statement.
It is an indisputable fact that Japanese militarists inflicted great sufferings on people of China and other Asian countries, as well as Japanese people in the past, the statement said, adding that the writers' ignorance of the fact greatly hurt the feeling of the Chinese people.
The textbook, compiled by members of the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, is being examined by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology for use in the school year starting in April 2002.
The original draft of the textbook describes World War II as the "Greater East Asian War of the Co-Prosperity Sphere" and justifies Japan's invasion of Southeast Asia by saying victories over the Western powers there allowed countries in the region to achieve postwar independence.
If the textbook is approved and used by Japanese schools, then Japan's young people will increasing misunderstand historical facts, the statement added.
The historians group, led by Kanji Nishio, a professor at the state-run University of Electro-Communications, maintains current Japanese history textbooks are "biased against Japan and full of self-denigration."
Sophistry Cannot Alter History: Commentary
Just at the time when the new edition middle-school history textbook by Japan's "new history textbook compilation committee", which denies the history of aggression, was subjected to stern criticism by China, Korea and the ROK, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara recently came out with the clamor: "the examination and approval of the textbook involves Japan's sovereignty". "Foreign countries overrated themselves when they expressed great worries about this. Now is not the time for foreign countries to make thoughtless comments on this". Obviously, Shintaro Ishihara is deliberately putting on a rival show against the Asian countries. The sophistry, designed to delineate the textbook question within the scope of Japanese sovereignty merits our vigilance.
It must be noted that the compilation and approval of Japan's history textbook has its special international political significance, it is in no way merely a matter coming within the scope of Japan's sovereignty. The war of aggression launched by Japanese militarists in those years that inflicted great harm on the Asian people is an ironclad historical fact. Now when this phase of history is described in the textbook, it is only a matter of course for Japan to objectively and accurately approach the matter and particularly to take the feelings of the people of the invaded countries into consideration.
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