Whoi knew a bunch of Japanese textbook could cause such trouble?

[Drake Tungsten]

Japan PM Apologizes for WWII Aggression

JAKARTA, Indonesia Apr 22, 2005 — Japan's prime minister on Friday apologized for his country's World War II aggression in Asia but a Chinese official dismissed the remarks, saying "actions are more important" than words.

He spoke after Japanese lawmakers made a controversial visit to a war shrine just hours before their prime minister apologized for wartime misdeeds.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's expression of "deep remorse" at a summit of Asian and African leaders in Jakarta did not go beyond what Japanese leaders previously have said.

But its delivery at the international gathering clearly was aimed at easing an escalating row with China over Tokyo's handling of its wartime atrocities and its bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.

Relations between the two Asian powers have plunged in recent weeks to a three-decade low.

"In the past Japan through its colonial rule and aggression caused tremendous damage and suffering for the people of many countries, particularly those of Asian nations," Koizumi said at the summit's opening ceremony. "Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility."

In response to the apology, however, China's ambassador to South Korea, Li Bin, said: "Of course, words are important. But I believe actions are more important."

Just hours before Koizumi's speech, about 80 Parliament members made a pilgrimage to a Tokyo shrine that honors executed Japanese World War II criminals along with other war dead. There were no Cabinet ministers among the group, which visited the shrine in observance of an annual spring festival.

"We express strong dissatisfaction over the negative actions of some Japanese politicians," China's Foreign Ministry said of the visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

It called on Japan to take actions that are "more conducive to improving and developing Sino-Japanese relations," citing the "current severe situation."

Koizumi said he was hoping for a one-on-one meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Jakarta on Saturday, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported. But China says it's still considering the proposal.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=693523

Koizumi must know that nothing he can say or do will ever placate the Chinese. I'm surprised he even bothered; I thought he was taking a stand against the browbeating from Japan's East Asian neighbors.

[Combat Ingrid]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Koizumi must know that nothing he can say or do will ever placate the Chinese. I'm surprised he even bothered; I thought he was taking a stand against the browbeating from Japan's East Asian neighbors.

It's a good strategy to be humble. If China keeps *****ing, they just prove to the world who's the real bad guy

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
Koizumi must know that nothing he can say or do will ever placate the Chinese. I'm surprised he even bothered; I thought he was taking a stand against the browbeating from Japan's East Asian neighbors.

I wonder if the Chinese press is triumphant about it, showing how the glorious Chinese people forced the Japanese weasels to back of... Or if the press is completely silent, in order to let the anger and hatred continue unabated.

[Drake Tungsten]

It's a good strategy to be humble.

Japan's been humble for 60 years. What good has it done them with China?

I wonder if the Chinese press is triumphant about it, showing how the glorious Chinese people forced the Japanese weasels to back of... Or if the press is completely silent, in order to let the anger and hatred continue unabated.

Probably both. They can spin this as the Japanese giving in and claim that it's not an "official" apology, thereby allowing the anger and hatred to continue unabated.

[Dinner]

I bet they bury it in page 97 just like they did he fist 17 Japanese apalogies. Even people in Hong Kong like UR mindlessly swallow the CCP's message of lies and hate.

[Alexander's Horse]

apologies aren't much good unless Japanese politicians stop visiting the Yakasune shrine.

[Ned]

Originally posted by Alexander's Horse
apologies aren't much good unless Japanese politicians stop visiting the Yakasune shrine.

Can they remove the remains of the war criminals? If they can, that would indeed help.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Spiffor

I wonder if the Chinese press is triumphant about it, showing how the glorious Chinese people forced the Japanese weasels to back of... Or if the press is completely silent, in order to let the anger and hatred continue unabated.

\

I don't see anything in the People's Daily Online , but maybe they are still waiting on the Party word.

edit: Actually there is something there. They are down playing the apology, saying it wasn't genuine. That's crap.

[Ned]

This is interesting in that it appears that the last wave of anti-Japanese protests (in response to Versailles) lead to

1) an overthrow of the Imperium
2) the founding of the CCP
3) WWII in the Far East

"According to the Hong Kong-based Open magazine last September, former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin was alarmed by the soccer riot of “extreme nationalists” who, he argued, were not targeting the Japanese but “the central government”. He warned that the “so-called anti-Japanese patriotic movement” would threaten political stability. The comments foreshadowed a crackdown in universities against “anti-Japanese” activities.

Beijing is well aware of the historical precedents such as May 4 movement in 1919, which was sparked by the decision at the Versailles peace conference to hand Germany’s colonial concessions in China to Japan. Mass protests of students and workers not only targetted Japan but China’s corrupt government for accepting the conference decision. This anti-imperialist struggle anticipated the founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the revolutionary eruption in 1925-27."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/chin-a08.shtml

[Ned]

More:

"China Betrayed
U.S. president Woodrow Wilson once described a negotiating technique he used on an associate. "When you have hooked him," explained Wilson, "first you draw in a little, then give liberty to the line, then draw him back, finally wear him out, break him down, and land him."{20}

A Chinese-Japanese conflict would challenge Wilson's negotiating skills.{21} The Chinese had joined the Allies and hoped for fair treatment in Paris. Many Chinese admired Western democracy and Wilson's idealistic vision.

Shantung was a strategic peninsula below Beijing. Confucius, the great philosopher, was born there. His ideas permeated Chinese society. Shantung had thirty million people, cheap labor, plentiful minerals and a natural harbor. Shantung silk is still fashionable today. In the late 1890s, Germany seized Shantung. In 1914, Japan took it from the Germans.{22}

In Paris, Japan wanted Shantung. Japan sported a collection of secret agreements that remind one of a Survivor TV series. China placed hope in Wilson's famous Fourteen Points, which rejected secret treaties and included self-determination.{23}

The Chinese ambassador to Washington called Shantung "a Holy Land for the Chinese" and said that under foreign control it would be a "dagger pointed at the heart of China."{24} Wilson seemed sympathetic at first, but the decision on Shantung had to wait until late April as the Allies finalized the German treaty. By then, an avalanche of decisions was overwhelming the peacemakers. When the Japanese forced their hand, Wilson, Clemenceau and Lloyd George conceded Shantung to Japan in exchange for Japan's concession on another significant treaty matter.{25}

Chinese blamed Wilson for betraying them. On May 4, thousands of demonstrators rallied in Tiananmen Square. The dean of humanities from Beijing University distributed leaflets. May 4 marked the rejection of the West by many Chinese intellectuals. New Russian communism looked attractive to some. In 1921, radicals founded the Chinese Communist Party. That dean of humanities who had distributed leaflets became its first chairman, Mao Tse-tung. His party won power in 1949{26} and today . . . have you listened to the news recently?"

http://www.probe.org/docs/paris.html

[Drake Tungsten]

apologies aren't much good unless Japanese politicians stop visiting the Yakasune shrine.

That's never going to happen.

[mindseye]

Probably their is no conceivable form of apology - not even ritual disembowelment - that would ever be considered satisfactory by Chinese Japan-haters.

There is simply too much to gain in too many ways by keeping the hate alive and smoldering, even if the sparks are occasionally dangerous to the flame fanners.

Tomorrow I will ask one of my classes if anyone heard of the apology.

[Alexander's Horse]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten

apologies aren't much good unless Japanese politicians stop visiting the Yakasune shrine.

That's never going to happen.

yep, its a b*tch

[Drake Tungsten]

True enough...

[mindseye]

It would be like China demanding that American presidents cease visiting Arlington cemetary because there were a number of veterans from the Boxer Rebellion buried there.