The new prime minister of Japan must be honest about Japan's
history in the Second World War, The Washington Post said
in an editorial on Monday.
"In its long march from military catastrophe to heavyweight
status, postwar Japan has oscillated between two kinds of errors,"
the editorial said.
"Japan's left wing has been honest about the past but
irresponsible about the present. It has shown remorse for
atrocities committed by Japanese troops in East Asia in the 1930s
but has been reluctant to see Japan's emergence from its pacifist
shell and making contributions to international security," the
editorial said.
As for the right wing, the editorial added that "the right has
made the opposite mistake: it has pushed for Japan to take more
responsibility for defense but has glossed over Japan's war guilt.
Since taking office in 2001, Junichiro Koizumi has tended to make
the right-wing mistake."
"Koizumi insisted on visiting the Yashukuni Shrine commemorating
Japan's war dead, including its war criminals, and during his term,
some government-approved textbooks whitewashed Japan's war record.
This unnecessarily inflamed anti-Japanese sentiments among its
neighboring countries," the editorial said.
"If Japan admits past errors, it will gain acceptance as a
responsible democracy, and its muscular foreign policy will be
treated as legitimate. But if it professes to see nothing wrong in
its past record, its efforts to assert itself on security and
diplomatic question will raise tensions with neighbors, undermining
regional security rather than contributing to it," the editorial
concluded.
Last Wednesday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe was
elected the 21st president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party
and will naturally succeed Junichiro Koizumi as Japan's next prime
minister.
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2006)
