Japan to Deal With China's Textbook Demand Sincerely:SpokesmanJapanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda vowed Thursday to sincerely deal with China's demand the previous day to revise a controversial junior high school history textbook approved by the Japanese government for classroom use."We cannot do anything more than closely examine the contents of the request and sincerely deal with it," the top government spokesman told a press conference. Fukuda, however, did not say whether Japan may further revise the already authorized textbook for use in the new school year that begins in April 2002. The Chinese government on Wednesday summoned a senior Japanese diplomat to the Foreign Ministry, demanding Japan take effective measures to correct serious mistakes in the history textbook fabricated by some rightist scholars in Japan. Chinese Foreign Ministry officials told the Japanese diplomat that the history textbook compiled by the Society of History Textbook Reform advocates imperialism, and whitewashes and denies Japan's history of aggressions. The Chinese officials also presented a list of demands for changes in the contents of the history textbook. The textbook has also drawn strong protests from South Korea, which charges it distorts the history of Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula. |
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