By Wang Mengjie
This August 15 marks the 80th anniversary of Japan's announcement of unconditional surrender. On that day, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba sent a ritual offering to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted WWII Class-A war criminals are enshrined, and some cabinet and parliament members paid tribute to it. These acts once again laid bare the grave historical misperceptions of Japan's right-wing forces regarding militarism, as well as their sinister attempt to shirk responsibility for the war.
The essence of the Yasukuni Shrine issue lies in Japan's continued failure to properly recognize and deeply reflect on its militarist past of aggression. The Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 convicted class-A war criminals are enshrined, is a spiritual tool and a symbol of the wars of aggression conducted by the Japanese militarists. Among the 2.46 million war dead commemorated at the shrine, 2.1 million perished in WWII. The then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine since 2001; Members of Shinzo Abe's cabinet have continued the practice; The Fumio Kishida administration pursued a roundabout way of paying homage; Now the Shigeru Ishiba administration has added yet another stain to this record. Japan's recent attempts to revive militarism are, in essence, an open provocation against the hard-won victory of the world anti-fascist war.
Equally alarming is the gradualist strategy pursued by Japan’s right-wing forces in textbooks. By downplaying Japan's responsibility for its wartime atrocities and glossing over its wars of aggression and colonial rule, they seek to construct a historical narrative that serves their own interests. The history textbooks authorized by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in 2023 contain serious distortions of historical facts. Such acts of historical revisionism not only violate the basic principles of international legal documents like the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, but also inflict lasting harm on the feelings of the peoples of Asian countries that suffered under Japanese aggression.
What is more alarming is that Japan's increasingly risky moves in the field of military and security are creating a vicious cycle in which historical whitewashing and military loosening feed into each other. The most direct manifestation of this trend is Japan's drastic shift in its security policy. By repeatedly breaking through the limits of the "exclusively defense-oriented" policy, lifting the ban on collective self-defense, and sharply increasing its defense budget, Japan's path toward becoming a "normal state" has already exceeded the framework of its postwar pacifist constitution. Moreover, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) have frequently carried out targeted military exercises in recent years. This expansionist momentum resonates with historical revisionism, gravely undermining the strategic balance in the region.
To view and treat history correctly is an important prerequisite for Japan's post-war return to the international community, the political foundation for Japan's ties with neighboring countries, and more importantly, a key measure for Japan's commitment to peaceful development. The Chinese side urges the Japanese side to face up to and reflect upon the history of aggression, act prudently in handling historical issues such as the Yasukuni Shrine, make a clean break with militarism, stay committed to peaceful development, and win the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community by taking concrete actions. This is not only fundamental to the political basis of China-Japan relations, but also an important safeguard for the international community in upholding the postwar peace order.
Even after 80 years, the bitter lessons of WWII remain deeply engraved. Any attempt to revise the history of aggression will only lead Japan down a dangerous historical path. In the face of the right-wing's reactionary actions in Japan, the international community must join forces to safeguard the victory of WWII and the post-war international order. Militarism must never be allowed to return and the tragedies of history must never be repeated.