Revisiting the Eastern Theatre

There has been a lot in the news recently about demonstrations in China against the Japanese government's approval of history textbooks that downplay the atrocities committed during the Second World War. Right now, it just looks as though both Beijing and Tokyo are simply posturing for effect, which is never a good way to make any progress. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing didn't help matters, for example, when he claimed in light of the recent protests that China had nothing for which they need apologise to Japan.

The grievances of the Chinese protesters seem legitimated, however, by a recent Japanese refusal to appeal a case by ten Chinese survivors of the Japanese occupation seeking reparation for the Rape of Nanjing and Heilongjiang biological weapons testing carried out during the late 1930's and early '40's. In light of the current situation, the Japanese government could have done far better by these people. But it seems to me that both sides are hell-bent on, in the words of Japanese PM Koizumi Jun'ichirou, 'an exchange of harsh words'. And harsh words mean harsher political difficulties.

Violent protests in Shenzhen and Shanghai have not helped matters. What sympathy the Japanese citizenry may have had for the Chinese war survivors is pretty much gone thanks to the rising tide of destructive demonstrations and anti-Japanese rhetoric coming from the mainland. Relations between the two giants have taken a major nosedive.

How to solve the problem? Both Beijing and Tokyo need to cut down on the rhetoric and engage in real dialogue. The Japanese must not underestimate the importance of the past, and they should own up to their own past, even the parts they would just as soon forget. The Chinese should not lose sight of the here and now, and what would lose if they alienate themselves from Japan any further.