By Jaime Ortega.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, Yoshihide Suga, says Japan does not accept the recent statement by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that Japan must return territories stolen during World War Two.
Li Keqiang made the remarks during his visit to Potsdam in Germany last week. Following the reaction, Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, has now denounced Japan’s “lack of respect” for wartime history.
Wang Yi says Japan agreed to the Potsdam Proclamation when it surrendered unconditionally in 1945, after World War Two. The Potsdam Proclamation states that Japan must observe terms set in the Cairo Declaration.
This states that all territories taken by Japan from China, including parts of Northeastern China, Taiwan, and other islands, shall be restored to China.
When diplomatic ties were restored between China and Japan, the two countries signed a joint statement agreeing to abide by the Potsdam Proclamation.
Wang Yi says these are historical facts that cannot be denied.
The Chinese political sphere is under scrutiny, as national pride has recently taken the optimism of the cultural force, and Japan is been targeted as an optimum gateway to revive nationalistic pride.
When Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka visited Beijing in 1972 to restore Japan’s relations with China, a country that had been devastated by Japanese military aggression in the 1930s and ’40s, his host Mao Zedong allowed himself a moment of levity.
Responding to Tanaka’s apology for what Japan had done during the war, Mao answered that there was absolutely no need to apologize. After all, he said, without the Japanese invasion, the Communist revolution would never have succeeded.
Secure in his nationalist credentials, as the leader who unified China, Mao could afford this little joke, which also happened to be the truth.
Such a remark would be unimaginable for any of the technocrats who rule China today. Maoism can no longer justify the Communist Party’s monopoly on power, since few Chinese believe in any kind of Communism. Nationalism is now the dominant ideology, and the rulers have to prove their mettle, especially toward Japan. This need is particularly acute when a new leader takes power.
The General Secretary of China, Xi Jinping, needs to show people, not least the military brass, that the communist party is in charge.
Japan has not responded to China’s threats.
A Chinese military think tank said in its annual report that the Asia-Pacific region has become a “new global center” for geopolitical and military competition, warning of security risks to China’s environment and possible clashes with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.
The Strategic Review 2012 was released Tuesday by the Center for National Defense Policy (CNDP) under the Academy of Military Sciences of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
And it can be viewed in their website.
