Japan Warned Not to Gloss over History of Aggression: Commentary

China's leading newspaper People's Daily publishes a commentary warning Japanese rightists not to gloss over Japan's history of aggression.

The commentary voices strong indignation at the recent approval by the Japanese government of the 2002 edition of a school history textbook, irregardless of the Chinese government's strong opposition and righteous calls by people from both Japan and other Asian nations.

The textbook distorts, whitewashes and changes the history of Japanese aggression against Asian countries, the commentary says, slamming the textbook for its denial of the atrocities committed by Japanese invaders in the Nanjing Massacre.

Two similar textbook incidents occurred in the 1980s, the newspaper recalls, noting that it exposes the existence of the right wing in Japan that has been in a bid to deny and gloss over the history of Japanese aggression.

In recent years, Japanese rightists, though small in number, have been using the sluggish economy in Japan to drum up nationalism and militarism, the commentary says. It urges all peace-loving people in the world including the Japanese people to stay vigilant.

The Japanese government is to blame for the final approval of the textbook, since it has the final say to approve textbooks, according to the People's Daily commentary.

The Japanese government has broken its promise it gave when beginning to check the textbook, the commentary says.

The textbook will not be conducive to Japanese youngsters. Instead, it will bring along damage to Japan and harm the fundamental interests to the Japanese people, it stresses.

The commentary says that to correctly recognize and face up to the history of wartime Japanese aggression is the political base for Sino-Japanese relations.

The approval of the textbook by the Japanese government has significantly hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and disturbed the healthy development of Sino-Japanese ties, it concludes.






People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/