China denounced Japan PM

China denounced Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday for drawing an analogy between Russia’s behavior in Crimea and China’s actions in the disputed East and South China Seas, accusing Abe of hypocrisy. Japan’s Kyodo news agency said Abe raised the issue at a G7 meeting in the Hague this month, warning that China was trying to change the status quo through coercion, and said something similar to Russia’s seizing of Crimea could happen in Asia. (read more on reuters.com)

Japan’s relations with the neighboring countries, mainly China and South Korea have detoriorated because of Japan PM Abe’s visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and the territorial disputes. I don’t understand why Japan PM is making these remarks to cause further tensions with China. I don’t think it is wise for Japan to continue to make enemies especially with an economic giant such as China. No matter what Japan does at this point, it is very difficult to restore relations with China but at least he should refrain from making stupid remarks that can set off China.

In the meantime, China has been attacking Japan and Germany made it clear that he did not wish to be dragged into this issue. Germany does not want China to use Germany to prompt Japan to apology for the wartime invasion and crimes committed because it was not just Germany which made an effort to restore relations with European nations. European nations had to come together to accept Germany’s sincere apologies and they had to be willing to forgive whatever the damage Germany had caused during the war. At least Germany did apologize and they mainly blamed Adolf Hitler, a notorious evil responsible for killing millions of Jews and invading other countries. Like I have said in my previous postings, Japan will never offer that level of acknowledgement and apologies to other Asian nations because the war criminals were all tied to the Japan’s wartime emperor, Hirohito and unfortunately his descendants are still representing Japan without any political power.

China and South Korea says Japan should follow in Germany’s footsteps and officially acknowledges and apologizes for the war time atrocities. Germany does not want to be involved in the bitter exchanges between Beijing and Tokyo over their wartime history, the country’s ambassador to China says. Berlin welcomes Chinese interest in how Germans had dealt with their history. But they added “we do not want to see our approach to history exploited to stir up tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. That is a different matter.” (read more on scmp.com)