Japan, China Renew Ties; War Apology Clouds Talks

Japanese and Chinese leaders agreed Thursday to forge a “new phase” of deeper economic, environmental and social ties, although the historic summit between Asia’s two superpowers was overshadowed by tensions involving how Japan could best apologize to China for its wartime atrocities six decades ago.

Japan literally rolled out the red carpet at a welcoming ceremony for President Jiang Zemin, the first Chinese head of state to visit Tokyo.

Jiang, who will be in Japan for six days, was greeted by Emperor Akihito and later met with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi for about two hours before attending a state dinner at the Imperial Palace.

During the meeting, Obuchi pledged to lend China $3.2 billion for numerous projects, including reforestation to help prevent the kind of massive devastation caused by the summer’s disastrous floods.

In an effort to allay China’s concerns about how Taiwan would be treated in a U.S.-Japan security agreement involving Asia, Japan also reassured China that it supports a “one China” policy that recognizes Taiwan as part of China.

Yet it was the past that seemed to capture most of the attention Thursday, as diplomats from the two countries haggled for hours over the form and wording of an official apology for Japan’s wartime brutalities in China.

The words appeared to have fallen short of the hopes of Chinese officials, who are believed to have requested a written apology similar to the one Japan issued to South Korea last month. That apology directly referred to Japan’s brutal occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said in Beijing last week that “Japan has never completely abandoned its militaristic past in the same way as Germany with the Nazis. If it were to do so, China and other Asian nations would not have to keep reminding Japan of history so often.”

However, Japan contends that it has already directly apologized to China in a 1972 joint communique that “normalized” relations between the two nations. In that signed document, Japan said it was “keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious damage that Japan caused in the past to the Chinese people, through war, and deeply reproaches itself.”

In addition, Japan referred to remarks in 1995 by then-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama that expressed “remorse” and “heartfelt apology” for the nation’s wartime actions.

Several hours after Thursday’s meeting, a carefully worded, unsigned “joint declaration” emerged that expressed Japan’s “recognition and remorse” for its invasion of China and the hardship inflicted on the Chinese people, although the declaration stopped short of actually apologizing.

“Accurate recognition toward history is a very important base for the bilateral relationship development,” the document said. “Japan has expressed through its 1972 joint declaration and Aug. 15, 1995, prime minister’s remarks that it feels keenly responsible for the tremendous hardship and damage to the Chinese people from its invasion of China in a certain period in the past, and Japan has expressed deep regret toward that conduct.”

It was the first time Japan used the word “invasion” in a diplomatic document.

In his meeting with Jiang, Obuchi orally reiterated Japan’s “remorse” and “heartfelt apology” for its wartime actions, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Sadaaki Numata.

Why not put it in writing? Numata was asked.

“Some things are best conveyed orally,” Numata said.

The fact that the statement was not signed by the two governments “has little relevance to the weight and importance of the document,” Numata said.

Some experts say Japan remains afraid that expressions of remorse could trigger renewed demands for compensation by victims of wartime atrocities.

Chinese government officials could not be reached for comment.

However, Japan Broadcasting Corp. reported that Jiang referred to the war while attending the Imperial Palace dinner that followed.

“Unfortunately, Japanese militarism brought tremendous hardship toward Asia and also to people in their own country,” the station quoted Jiang as saying.

Obuchi repeated to Jiang that Japan has “consistently pursued a path of peaceful development in postwar years, and it is the view of a great majority of Japanese people that Japan should never again pursue the path of a military power.”

Obuchi noted that he was an infant at the time the atrocities occurred.

However, the remarks of some Japanese officials, who still deny Japan’s role in the war, continue to provoke other Asian nations.

As recently as May, Japanese lawmaker Masahiro Koga claimed that he could not say whether atrocities were committed at Nanjing, where the Chinese claim that 300,000 men, women and children were slaughtered by Japanese soldiers in 1937.

“The most important thing is to recognize that there are a lot of different interpretations of history,” Koga said.

At the time, Koga and several other right-wing lawmakers were warmly endorsing “Pride: A Fateful Moment,” a movie glorifying Gen. Hideki Tojo’s invasion of Asia as a just campaign by Japan to liberate its oppressed Asian neighbors from Western rule.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Numata, Jiang told Obuchi, “This is a very good opportunity to put the past in perspective and look to the future. It doesn’t mean China is preoccupied with the past, but it is important to deal with the past in the right way so we can build the future.”

In China, Sun Zhaiwei, a history professor at the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences and author of a book on the Nanjing massacre, said the Japanese should sign a written statement for themselves rather than the Chinese.

“The document is not so meaningful for the Chinese government and people,” he said. “It is more important for the Japanese government and its people. It would mean Japan finally acknowledges its history.”

An editorial in Japan’s Mainichi newspaper earlier this month took a different tone.

“The generation that felt the need to atone for the past is gradually fading away and being replaced by a postwar generation that does not feel compelled to treat Sino-Japanese relations differently and resents any attempt by China to use the problems of the past as a diplomatic card,” the paper wrote.

“The time has come for Japan and China to wipe the slate of history clean in order that the foundations for eternal good-neighborly relations can be laid.”

Times staff writer Maggie Farley in Shanghai contributed to this report.