Who’s Apology Was It?

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe delivered a statement on the seventieth anniversary of ending World War II in Friday evening. Although he nominally included the important wordings of former Prime Ministers in his statement, such as “apology,” “colonial rule,” or “aggression,” it became equivocal on who said that. The statement of Japanese Prime Minister on the war went backward.

The focal point of the statement was whether Abe would apologize the deed of Japanese Imperial Force. He made it in the context of indirect narration. “Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war,” told Abe. “Such position articulated by the previous cabinets,” added Abe, “will remain unshakable into the future.” Abe did not use “I” for the subject of the sentence to express message toward neighbor countries.

In Murayama statement in 1995, the message was clearly personal delivered from then Japanese Prime Minister. “In the hope that no such mistake be made in the future, I regard, in a spirit of humility, these irrefutable facts of history, and express here once again my feelings of deep remorse and state my heartfelt apology,” told Murayama in the statement. Abe statement became a major retreat from a position of serious reflection on devastation of the war.

On the recognition of aggression by Japan, Abe’s words went far from something understandable. “Incident, aggression, war – we shall never again resort to any form of the threat or use of force as a means of settling international disputes. We shall abandon colonial rule forever and respect the right of self-determination of all peoples throughout the world,” said Abe. According to his description, while he admitted that Japan had once resorted to the threat or use of force, it was unclear whether his country committed aggression or colonial rule. His comment can be interpreted as “Aggression or colonial rule is bad thing, and we will never do that. Have we done that? I don’t know.”

More explicitly, Abe declared no more apologies in the future. “We must not let our children, grandchildren, and even further generations to come, who have nothing to do with that war, be predestined to apologize,” stressed Abe. When the world was looking at Japan whether it would make sincere reflection on the war, Abe disseminated fundamental skepticism with equivocal elaboration on the history. It is impossible for him to settle the international dispute over historical interpretation.