Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing Tuesday declared that Japan should
face its history in a responsible manner and handle the issue of
"comfort women" in a proper manner.
His remarks came at a press conference at the sidelines of the
Fifth Session of the Tenth National People's
Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.
Li addressed the issue, calling the "comfort women" issue a
historical fact and a serious crime committed by Japanese troops
during World War II. He encouraged the Japanese government to view
historical events as a basis upon which to handle future bilateral
relations with China.
This year marks the 35th anniversary since diplomatic ties were
once again normalized and both sides should grasp this time of
renewed hope to positively handle all fundamental political issues
concerning the bilateral relationship as well as expanding
exchanges and cooperation, Li said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that Japan
would not offer any new apology over the wartime sex slavery issue
after he told reporters that "there is no evidence to prove there
was coercion" exercised over the foreign women.
Abe, aiming to shore up his reputation with his conservative
base, triggered international outcry after appearing to doubt the
state's part in forcing women to prostitute themselves for soldiers
during World War II.
US Congressman Michael Honda, a California Democrat, has
introduced a non-binding resolution to the House of Representatives
calling on Japan to give a full apology for the suffering that
thousands of Asian women, many Korean and Chinese, endured at the
hands of its Imperial Army.
"I have to say that even if the resolution passes, that doesn't
mean we will apologize," Abe told a parliamentary panel Monday,
pointing out that the US resolution contained factual errors.
However, Abe added that he fully supported a 1993 government
apology that acknowledged the Japanese military's role in creating
and operating wartime brothels and admits the use of coercion.
"It is not true that Japan has never reflected or apologized,"
he told reporters later. "The facts are as contained in the (1993)
statement."
Last week, Abe's comments infuriated Seoul after he seemed to
question whether physical coercion had been used to find women for
the brothels.
"There is no evidence to back up that there was coercion as
defined initially," he said on Thursday, seemingly addressing
accusations that the Imperial Army had kidnapped women and forced
them into military brothels.
Monday, Abe backtracked, saying that coercion had been used in
some cases, particularly by middlemen. He still stopped short of a
full retraction, adding: "It was not as though military police
broke into people's homes and took them away like kidnappers."
It is estimated that during World War II, some 200,000 Asian
women were forcibly drafted into the Japanese Imperial Army to
serve as sex slaves. Surviving comfort women have demanded apology
and compensation from the Japanese government.
(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily March 6, 2007)
