BEIJING, March 14 -- Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Friday gave China a piece of "wise" advice on how it should look into the future instead of getting stuck in the past.

But what he seems to have forgotten is that those who choose to disrespect history or lack the courage to face up to the past do not have a future at all.

"Rather than an attitude that emphasizes the past of 70 years ago, it's more important for Japan and China to have a forward-looking relationship that focuses on the problems facing the international society now," Suga said Friday in response to a question about China's planned military parade to mark the end of WWII.

Japan has chosen to whitewash or deny all its wartime crimes. Now it is "kindly" advising China to forget its past of suffering from Japan's atrocities.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Japanese politicians to use their own conscience when judging the history 70 years after Japan lost a war with China.

German Chancellor Angela Merkelhas also reminded Japan of the need to squarely face its wartime past.

In a speech in Tokyo on Monday, Merkel said her country had been lucky to be accepted by the international community "after the horrible experience the world had to meet with Germanyduring the period of Nazism and the Holocaust."

"This was possible first because Germany did face its past squarely, but also because the Allied Powers who controlled Germany after World War II would attach great importance to Germany coming to grips with its past," Merkel said.

Merkel's remarks were lauded by many experts and scholars, who urged Japan to learn from Germany in historical reckoning.

Gu Xuewu, director of the Center for Global Studies of Bonn University, said Merkel was actually voicing German intellectual mainstream's strong dissatisfaction with Tokyo's way of dealing with history.

It would be inconceivable for a German chancellor of the 21st century to avoid historical issues when visiting Japan "because the majority of the German intellectual elite believe that the Japanese elite has done quite a poor job in dealing with wartime history," Gu said.

For Gu, Merkel's remarks in Japan were not spontaneous but well thought out, and the professor said Merkel's intentions could be multipronged.

The first thing Merkel wanted to tell Japan is that it is high time to face up history in the German way, in order to win forgiveness and be accepted as a "normal country," said Gu.

Showing a strong concern about peace and security in East Asia, Germany hoped that Japan could remove the historical burden as soon as possible to pave the way for genuine reconciliation with major nations in the region, Gu added.

"Japan was a devoted student of Germany before the war. I hope it is still willing to learn from Germany now," said Gu.

Gu's opinions were echoed by Federico Niglia, professor of International History with LUISS University of Rome.

"There are growing doubts regarding Japan, which always seems a little 'detached' from the rest of the Asian continent," Niglia said.

"Other countries like China, on the other hand, seem inclined to create a common Asian awareness and a policy of regional integration. Yet, this goal cannot be reached without a common vision of history among all countries in the region," he said.

The whole Europe benefited from Germany's ability to deal uncompromisingly with its mistakes, because it allowed all Europeans "to digest the past," the analyst said.

"Otherwise, the past does not pass and history remains a divisive issue," he said.