Japan ought to honor terms dictated by Cairo Declaration
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E-mail Xinhua, December 1, 2013
To ignore these documents and allow the then militarist invaders maintain their stolen land would defy the post-war East Asian order, risk a resurgence of the once rampant Japanese militarism, and breed historical resentment in countries, on which Japan's war of aggression had wreaked havoc.
China loves peace and needs a peaceful environment for its domestic development. It is Japan that has provoked the dispute over the Diaoyu Islands, and heightened regional tension to challenge the post-war order.
Despite the strong opposition from China, Japan, on Sept. 10th last year, unilaterally announced its "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands, riding roughshod over the declaration.
Over the past year, Abe's government has turned a blind eye to the evidence presented by the Chinese government and the testimony given by Japanese witnesses, and refused to recognize the agreement to "shelve the disputes" over the islands issue, which was struck by the two sides in 1970s.
If Japan would not even admit the dispute, how could dialogues and negotiations be launched to seek a settlement?
To amend Japan's current pacifist peaceful constitution and beef up its military muscle is the major factor behind the Abe administration's hell-bentness on having its own way.
As stipulated in its post-war pacifist constitution, Japan has no right to wage war. The so-called "China threat" is a lame excuse Japan has invented to break the restraints imposed by the constitution.
What's more, the Abe administration takes an apathetic stand on war crimes Japan committed some 70 years ago.
Provocative remarks and actions, such as quibbling with the definition of "aggression", sparing no efforts to revise the country's war-renouncing constitution and visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, have been repeatedly brought up by the prime minister.
The dispute over Diaoyu Islands has thus borne heavily on Japan's understanding on its aggressive and militarist past, its intention to amend the pacifist constitution and the post-war order in East Asia dictated by the Cairo Declaration.
The post-war order in East Asia and in the Asia-Pacific at large, as prescribed by the Cairo Declaration, serves not only as an warning and caution against the catastrophe of war and a penalty on war crime perpetrators, but also an important gateway toward the hard-won regional peace, all of which entails a regular and in-depth review of the historic document.
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