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Showing posts with label WW2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WW2. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Japan's denial of past military aggression undermines world peace; intervention in SCS perverse, vicious

A Japanese right-winger captured in photo at Yasukuni Shrine on the 71st anniversary of Japans surrender in World War II on August 15, 2016. Yasukuni enshrines war criminals, and as such visits by Japanese politicians tend to provoke anger from neighbors China and Korea that suffered from Japans militarist past.


https://youtu.be/p57piVGcVqg

August 15 marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender during World War II. However, on this special day when Japan should spend time reflecting on its history of militaristic aggression, its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A convicted war criminals among 2.5 million Japanese war dead from WWII, is regarded as a symbol of past Japanese militarism.

The honoring of war criminals, no matter what form it takes, only serves to further hurt those Asian neighbors that Japan once invaded. Such perverse acts to whitewash its crimes of military aggression runs contrary to the pursuit of peace in Asia and the world at large.

It's common knowledge that the Yasukuni Shrine is a source of spiritual inspiration for Japan to start another war of aggression. Yet, the country's new Defense Minister Tomomi Inada has tried to associate such a notorious place with the mourning of soldiers belonging to Japan’s Self-Defense Forces.

She claimed at a recent seminar that “the Yasukuni Shirine is not the place to vow not to fight. It needs to become a place where we vow to desperately fight when our Motherland is at risk.” Her words shocked even the Kyodo News.

The 71-year-peace after WWII was hard-won. Born from the victory over fascism, this peace has been the foundation for post-war international order. This conclusion is not something that can be ignored, denied or overturned by any country.

World peace and the post-war order, which came at the cost of the blood and lives of the peoples of Allied countries, is closely tied to justice.

Last year, the world commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of the World Anti-Fascist War, but some countries, looking out for their own interests, have turned a blind eye to the wrongdoings of Japan and have even urged Japan to abandon its pacifist constitution. The world today is witnessing the negative impact brought about by this short-sighted strategy.

By erasing its invasion history, Japan is on one hand attempting to lock away memories of the war and on the other hand setting the stage for future action. In the House of Councillors election in July, lawmakers pushing for Constitution amendments won more than two-thirds of seats. This has led to forward-thinking people in Japan to also begin worrying about the “return of war.”

In order to strengthen military power and shake off the post-war order, the Abe administration usually uses the so-called “China threat” as an excuse to deceive the Japanese public and other parts of the world.

After Japan adopted its new security laws that lifted a decades-old ban on collective self-defense, the Abe administration has been making every effort to contain China by instigating disputes between China and other countries.

On the day when the so-called arbitral decision on the South China Sea dispute was announced in July, Japan, a non-party in the issue, immediately pressured China to accept the arbitration. At the following 11th Asia-Europe Summit and foreign ministers' meetings on East-Asia cooperation held in last month, Japan reiterated its stance again and again.

In the country’s annual defense white paper issued in early August, Japan pointed fingers at China over the South China Sea issue once again. The paper also made irresponsible remarks concerning China’s armament, military expense and transparency. These actions by the Abe administration has triggered alarm and concern throughout the international community.

Japan's tribute at the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday once again reminds us that world peace is not that should be taken for granted, it demands continual justice and also the capability to defend it.- People's Daily

Japan’s intervention in South China Sea perverse, vicious: expert

Chinese PLA Navy staged drills in the waters of South China Sea on July 8, 2016.

Japan’s efforts to muddle the waters of the South China Sea are perverse acts that turn back the wheel of history, a Chinese expert wrote on Monday in an article that marked the 71st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II and called on the public to ponder Japan’s real intentions.

In the People’s Daily article, Hu Dekun, the president of China Association for History of WWII, pointed out that the war of aggression initiated by Japanese fascists during the 1930s and 1940s had brought tremendous disaster to people both in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

As an assailant country, Japan should be held accountable for its war crimes. However, in order to cement its global hegemony, the US, who then exclusively occupied Japanese territory, allied with the latter in the hopes of dominating the Asia-Pacific order.

But instead of repenting for its war crimes and improving ties with the victimized countries, Japanese right-wing politicians started bullying other countries under the support of the US, read the article, titled “Perverse Acts of Japanese Government.” Things got worse after the US adopted its “Asia-Pacific Rebalance” policy, Hu writes, citing the South China Sea issue as an example.

Hu noted that in a bid to contain China, Japan repeatedly instigated disputes between China and other countries around the South China Sea. Japan, a country not involved in the South China Sea issue, joined the US as another agitator in meddling the waters.

According to Hu, Japan is attempting to get rid of the post-war order by amending its constitution.

After Japan officially adopted the new security laws that lifted the decades-old ban on collective self-defense, the country is now planning a constitution amendment. But the biggest roadblock ahead is public support. The Abe administration is seeking that support by playing up the “China threat.”

What’s more, Tokyo hopes divert public’s attention from other domestic issues. The Abe administration has lost credibility after "Abenomics" failed to revive the Japan’s sluggish economy. By fanning the flames of the South China Sea issue, the administration hopes to route domestic conflicts and consolidate its power.

By poking its nose in the South China Sea, Japan wishes to buddy up to the US. Though the US tried to manipulate some counties to challenge China, its “Asia-Pacific Rebalance” policy suffered serious setbacks by China's diplomacy, friendships and policy of win-win cooperation, especially as the “Belt and Road” initiative aims to benefit most of its neighboring countries. Japan wants to take this chance to curb China so that it could pander to its alliance with the US.

“What’s Japan's real intention for interfering in the South China Sea issue? Is Japan going to repeat its mistakes? ”asked Hu. - People's Daily

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Saturday, August 6, 2016

Stay vigilant to Japan's "China Threat", right-wing 'hawk' Inada as new defense minister

Tokyo hype

Once again, in its latest defense white paper, Japan has shamelessly accused China of jeopardizing regional peace and stability, playing up the "China Threat" for its own right-wing agenda.

As the Abe administration moves Japan's security policy further and further to the right, rebuilding the country as a military power, those neighboring nations who remember the past look on aghast.

The new defense paper adopts an even more confrontational tone compared to previous ones, accusing China of "changing the status quo by relying on its strength" and expressing "deep concern" over China's activities in the East and South China seas.

If history is indeed a mirror, then surely that mirror reflects Japan's recent record of stirring up regional trouble and enmity wherever and whenever it can. If there is any meddling with the status quo, it is easy to see that Japan is the meddlesome one.

In 2012, Tokyo stoked up tensions in the East China Sea through the transparent farce of "purchasing" the Diaoyu Islands. Warships and aircraft were dispatched to the islands' waters and skies, harassing Chinese vessels and aircraft going about their lawful business.

On the South China Sea, Japan -- far from an interested party -- can't seem to keep its nose out of the issue, pointing fingers at China and cheerleading for distant parties who also seek to interfere in the dispute.

And then in April, Japan sent warships to the Philippines, perhaps as a direct "thank-you" for the spurious South China Sea arbitration, laying bare its attempts to mount pressure on China.

The Abe administration has tinkered with the stability of the Asia-Pacific and conjured up security threats for no reason other than to justify a move to the right: a militarist move which includes, but is not limited to, easier arms trade, weaker civilian control over the military, and these controversial security bills.

This year's white paper makes much of the "constitutionality" of Japan's new security laws - the legal foundation for the right-wing to take control of Japan's defense.

Japan talks of "concern" and "vigilance" over China's military development, and has done so in its annual papers since 2005. After new security legislation last year, Japan has taken a more proactive approach, a more aggressive approach, directly condemning and challenging China.

Abe and his coalition partners are clearly speeding up their attempts to rewrite the constitution before his tenure ends in 2018. Laws allowing Japan to engage in armed conflict overseas, even if Japan is not attacked or threatened, came into effect in March. The Abe administration is inching closer to its dream of replacing the country's pacifist constitution with... a different kind of constitution.
Abe's real intention

The fanciful "China Threat" and tensions in the region are the best excuses for aggressive military and security polices that Tokyo can cook up.

Seven decades after World War II, Japan now stands at a critical juncture: to continue on its peaceful path or to return to militarism with all the fears and tensions that will bring to the region.

Each and every responsible member of the international community must stay vigilant. This peace and stability was hard-won. Its loss will be harder still. - Xinhua

Abe appoints ultra-right wing "hawk" Inada as new DM to push military agenda



https://youtu.be/X0kSBfF7XS4

Her comment that Japan's actions during the war "depends on one's point of view" has sparked anger from neighboring South Korea and China.

 
Japan's new Defense Minister, Tomomi Inada, inspects a honor guard on her first day at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, Aug. 4, 2016.

TOKYO, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's appointment of Tomomi Inada as defense minister following a cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday has underscored his intentions to forge ahead with a controversial push to amend the nation's pacifist Constitution and further expand the scope of the nation's military, observers here have said.

The prime minister, nevertheless, has maintained that the reshuffle was aimed at speeding up the pace of the nation's sluggish economic revival, following multiple failed installments of his "Abenomics" economic policy mix, following the approval a day earlier of a 28.1 trillion yen (277.74 billion U.S. dollar) stimulus package.

However, political observers attest that the hawkish Inada, 57, a particularly close ally of Abe's, yet a novice when it comes to security issues, being given the defense minister's portfolio demonstrates the prime minister's intention to use his coalition's newly-gained dominance in both chambers of parliament to advance his legacy-led mission to fundamentally reshape Japan's security paradigm in the biggest, most controversial shift since WWII.

Security experts as well as senior members within the defense ministry itself believe that Inada, Japan's second female defense minister following Yuriko Koike, herself recently elected to be Tokyo governor who held the position briefly in 2007, is ill-equipped and lacks the necessary experience to hold the defense ministry's top post.

Inada is currently only serving her fourth term as a lower house lawmaker and previously held the post of state minister in charge of administrative reform for just two years and has chaired the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Policy Research Council again for just two years.

Defense, security and military affairs are not in her repertoire, experts close to the matter have maintained.

Inada, however, is known to share the prime minister's singular goal of revising Japan's postwar, pacifist constitution and is also, along with Abe and a number of other prominent cabinet members, a visible member of the ultra-right wing Nippon Kaigi fraternity.

"Inada has long been a member of Abe's inner coterie and shares his fundamental beliefs about the future course of the nation's political and security direction," Asian affairs commentator Kaoru Imori told Xinhua, ahead of Inada's widely-expected appointment.

"She is also a known right-wing revisionist and has made a number of controversial remarks about Japan's history, and her membership to the right wing Nippon Kaigi group is evidence of her tendentious political and nationalistic views," Imori added.

Nippon Kaigi is an ultranationalistic nonparty entity with around 300,000 members who all believe in praising the Imperial family (The Emperor), changing the war-renouncing, pacifist Constitution, promoting nationalistic education in schools and supporting parliamentarians' visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

It is the biggest right-wing organization in Japan and Abe has, ostensibly, cherry picked his Cabinet members from this group to run the country, with these "Shinto Conservatives" believing that Japan should not apologize for its wartime acts of brutality, despite the legitimacy of proven historical events.

The appointment of Inada as defense minister will almost certainly ruffle the feathers of Japan's neighbors, experts claim. "The mood now is to try to promote cooperation," Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University in Tokyo, was quoted as saying of the current situation regarding ties between Japan and its immediate neighbors.

"That could change if she makes a pilgrimage to Yasukuni in a couple of weeks," Kingston added.

"Inada supports the prime minister and all parliamentarians' visits to Yasukuni (shrine) and has openly contested The International Military Tribunal for the Far East after World War II. She also believes that Japan should not apologize for its internationally-recognized war crimes committed and is a proponent of denying Japan's wartime atrocities," Imori said.

To this end, Abe appointed her chairperson of the LDP Policy Research Council in September 2014, despite the fact that the position is almost always exclusively held by party members who have had lengthy political careers. - Xinhuanet

THE ATOMIC BOMB: HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI August 6 & 9, 1945

https://youtu.be/_z4ZBA_HEVY

Rape of Nanking Part I Atrocities in Asia Nanjing Massacre




https://youtu.be/YoW2WYdOsvg

'Nanking' with Woody Harrelson - Full Movie | Snagfilms



https://youtu.be/jfkk-GtM_sI

Related:

Japan hypes up "China threat" in defense white paper

TOKYO, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government approved a defense white paper for 2016 on Tuesday, summarizing Japan's defense policy changes while smearing China's normal maritime activities to justify Japan's own militarization.

The annual document came after an ad hoc arbitral tribunal with judges mostly picked by Shunji Yanai, a Japanese right-winger, issued a biased and illegal award over the South China Sea dispute. Full story

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