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Japan PM Says Won't Revise Controversial Textbook
Japan will not make revisions to a controversial history textbook but will take seriously criticism across Asia that it whitewashes Tokyo's wartime atrocities, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Thursday.
China on Wednesday called in a senior Japanese diplomat in Beijing and demanded extensive corrections to the textbook, which Chinese state media said "advocates imperialism, and whitewashes and denies Japan's history of aggression."
It follows a similar move by South Korea last week in which Seoul asked that 25 passages of the textbook be revised saying that they were clearly inaccurate.
"While we cannot make revisions, we will listen sincerely to such criticism and respond sincerely," Koizumi told reporters.
"I would like to come up with wisdom to find a way to understand and respect each other's positions so as to improve ties between Japan and China," he said.
Seoul has decided to postpone joint military exercises with Tokyo in protest, and a group of South Korean lawmakers have applied for a court injunction in Japan to halt the sale of the book, to be circulated next year for use by children aged 13-15.
Japan has said the textbook does not represent the government's official view of history.
While Japanese Education Minister Atsuko Toyama suggested last week that Tokyo could make further revisions after taking into account opinions from experts, a senior education ministry official on Thursday said revisions will be difficult.
"All the descriptions China has demanded be revised are points that had already been revised in response to the ministry's instructions. We have used sufficient caution on those points," Kyodo news agency quoted the official as saying.
The Education Ministry insisted on revisions before approving the text, and has said that the textbooks cannot be revised further unless they contain factual errors.
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