In a move widely viewed as a public censure of Japan's official
policy on "comfort women," the US House of Representatives on
Monday unanimously passed a bill demanding Japan's apology on the
issue.
The congressional move sent a strong and clear message to the
Japanese government that there's no way the country can escape
accountability for the sexual exploitation of women by the Japanese
military during World War II.
That Japan should take full responsibility for the issue of
comfort women is agreed internationally. Japan's obligation to own
up to the past has also been verified by relevant United Nations
documents and most recently, this week's US House resolution.
The bill highlighted the outcry on Capitol Hill and across the
world over recent denials of these crimes by Japanese right-wing
politicians.
In a strong reaction to the Japanese denials, Democratic
representative Mike Honda of California, an American of Japanese
descent who pushed the bill in the House, said while addressing
lawmakers before the vote, "Today, the House will send a message to
the government of Japan that it should deliver an official,
unequivocal, unambiguous apology for the indignity the comfort
women suffered."
Honda was echoed by Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee
Tom Lantos, who said, "The facts are plain: there can be no denying
that the Japanese Imperial military coerced thousands upon
thousands of women, primarily Chinese and Koreans, into sexual
slavery during the war."
"Inhumane deeds should be fully acknowledged," Lantos said.
"The world awaits a full reckoning of history from the Japanese
government," he added.
Moreover some lawmakers warned that if Japan can't be held
accountable for the issue, we could "allow it to happen again."
Some US analysts pointed out that the passage of such a bill,
which has failed several times before in the House, was partly
attributed to the misjudgment of Japan's right-wing
politicians.
On July 14, two weeks after the bill passed the House Foreign
Relations Committee, a group of Japanese lawmakers, journalists and
columnists ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post,
publicly denying the sexual enslavement of comfort women.
And days later, Japan's ambassador in Washington wrote to House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging her to abandon the bill and warning
that it could harm Japan-US relations.
However, these actions backfired and sparked a furor among US
lawmakers, prompting many who had been ambivalent about the
resolution to support it.
Just like the Holocaust, it is common knowledge in the
international community that Japan's war-time comfort women system
was one of the most extreme kinds of war crime that has ever
happened.
Many historians agree that it is one of the two worst crimes
committed by the fascists during World War II, the other being the
Holocaust.
But some Japanese politicians have neither the sincerity nor the
will to take responsibility for these appalling actions by the
military. They are without the guts to face up to the past and
acknowledge that the brutality ever happened.
Many Japanese politicians often laud their "common values" with
the Americans, but the Japan-US disagreement on the comfort women
issue shows that there are some "values" on which the two sides are
miles apart.
In a world where virtually nobody will deny that the comfort
women system was a serious crime against humanity, the actions and
words by some people in Japan appear as if they are being
transmitted from another planet.
The US House resolution further validates the fact that comfort
women existed and now the world is waiting for Japan to choose the
right option. Japan must face reality and hold itself accountable
for these horrible crimes -- and the sooner, the better.
(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2007)
