Don’t Try to Distort Past, China’s Qian Urges Japan

China’s foreign minister, in town for the funeral of Emperor Hirohito, met today with top Japanese leaders and told them not to distort their nation’s militaristic past, a government source said.

Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita told Parliament last week that it was unclear whether Japan had been an aggressor in World War II and that historians would have to judge Japan’s role.

The comments drew criticism from China and other Asian countries, which suffered a brutal occupation by Japan before and during the war.

Some of those nations continued their criticism today with demonstrations and newspaper editorials.

Foreign Minister Qian Qichen of China, meanwhile, met separately with Takeshita and Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno.

During the meetings, Qian “stressed that there are sensitive topics between China and Japan and that it is necessary to come up with the correct interpretation of past history,” a senior Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.

“No distortion should take place regarding the past because that would hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and should be avoided,” the official quoted Qian as telling Uno.

Qian met Takeshita in a hastily arranged “courtesy call,” one ministry official said. The two did not discuss the Japanese leader’s comments, according to a ministry summary of their talks.

Uno told Qian that Takeshita’s comments did not represent a change in Japanese policy toward the war, and he expressed regret that neighboring countries had “misunderstood” the prime minister’s intention, ministry officials said.