项昊宇

By Xiang Haoyu

俄乌冲突以来，日本追随美欧对俄罗斯实施严厉制裁，在其国内一边倒的“反俄”舆论中，右翼保守势力试图抓住国际舆论对俄不利之机，为军国主义侵略历史翻案正名。

Since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, Japan has followed America and Europe’s lead in imposing harsh sanctions on Russia. In the middle of the overwhelming opposition against Moscow both domestically and internationally, the right-wing Japanese conservatives are trying to take this opportunity to whitewash their history of militarist aggression.

日本自民党副总裁麻生太郎此前在党内集会上宣称，二战中苏方单方面撕毁《日苏互不侵犯条约》（即《日苏中立条约》），向日本发起侵略。自民党前干事长石破茂曾称，日本绝不能忘记苏联侵略日本的历史。这种日本遭到“侵略”的论调令人惊愕，但在日本国内似乎并未引发相应关注。事实上，1945年4月5日，是因为日本帮助德国进行反苏战争，并同苏联的盟国美英交战，中立条约已失去意义，苏联宣布提前一年废除该条约，并于8月8日正式对日宣战，为全球反法西斯战争胜利作出重要贡献。

Taro Aso, Vice President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), previously said at a party gathering that the Soviet Union unilaterally tore apart the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and invaded Japan during WWII. Former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba once claimed that Japan should never forget how the Soviet Union invaded the country. Yet such jaw-dropping remarks about Japan being the victim of invasion didn’t seem to raise any alert in the country. The fact is that because Japan joined Germany in fighting against the Soviet Union and engaged in war with Soviet allies the US and the UK, the neutrality pact was de facto void, so the Soviet Union announced on April 5, 1945, to terminate it one year in advance, and officially declared war against Japan on August 8. The Soviet Union made tremendous contributions to winning the anti-Fascist war.

在日本军国主义侵略历史早有定论的前提下，日本在对俄态度上折射出的错误历史观，其影响绝不限于日本同二战受害国的关系，也事关日本国家发展走向和地区和平稳定。

As there are long-established conclusions about Japan’s history of militarist aggression, its wrong outlook on history as reflected in its attitude toward Russia implies grave consequences not just concerning its relations with countries victimized in WWII, but also the country’s future direction of development and the region’s peace and stability.

联系当前自民党政权推动军事安全政策调整的一系列动向，日本的历史修正主义正显露出多重危险性。

This, combined with a series of adjustments in military and security policies recently adopted by the LDP authorities, reveals multi-dimension dangers of Japan’s historical revisionism.

第一，“受害情结”驱动下的国家意识“泛安全化”。

First, Japan is abusing the “security” concept due to “victim complex”.

战后长期以来，日本国内对二战历史反思多聚焦自身作为“受害者”的部分，避而不谈日本作为“加害者”到底做了什么，亚洲邻国在日本侵略下经历了怎样的苦难。近年来，日本一些人开始炒作日本面临“中朝俄三面威胁”，并臆想出种种耸人听闻的“对日军事攻击”版本，日方在《防卫白皮书》《外交蓝皮书》等政策文件中也大肆渲染“外部安全环境严峻”，使内外政策日益呈现“泛安全化”的偏执取向。

Ever since the end of WWII, Japan’s reflection on the war is focused on how much it suffered as a “victim”. It is always evasive about what it did as a “victimizer” and how much its Asian neighbors suffered under its militarist hooves. In recent years, certain people in Japan began to clamor about the so-called three-sided threats from China, DPRK and Russia, and have imagined various sensational stories of “military attacks” against Japan. Official policy documents such as the Defense White Paper and the Diplomatic Bluebook also exaggerate the so-called “serious external security environment”, making domestic and foreign policies increasingly security-oriented and paranoid.

第二，保守政治主导下的对外政策民粹化。 

Second, the conservative Japanese government is promoting populist foreign policy.

日本错误历史观的根源之一在于战后改造不彻底。出于冷战需要，华盛顿将日本打造为反共防波堤，未彻底清算军国主义势力残余，还大力扶植与军国主义有千丝万缕联系的保守势力上台执政。冷战后，日本左翼势力日渐衰微，美国出于对日借重利用的需要，对日本自民党的历史修正主义态度暧昧，造成日本自民党从小泉时代就开始向民粹政党转变，过去主要动力是“反中厌韩”，现在则演变为“遏华反俄抗朝”，这也成为自民党的主要权力来源之一。

One of the fundamental reasons for Japan’s wrong outlook on history is the incomplete reform of the country after the war. To serve its own purpose during the Cold War, Washington wanted to make Japan its anti-Communist frontline. Therefore, instead of rooting out the remaining militarist forces, it strongly supported the conservative forces, which were closely affiliated with militarism, to take power in the country. After the end of the Cold War, Japanese leftists were on the decline, and Washington, still wanting to take advantage of Japan, stayed ambiguous on LDP’s historical revisionism. As a result, the LDP began to turn into a populist Party as early as in Junichiro Koizumi’s time – it used to be against China and ROK, and now it is against China, Russia and DPRK, which is primarily how the party obtains power.

第三，僵化战略思维浸淫下的社会思潮极化。

Third, Japanese society becomes polarized under stereotyped strategic thinking.

俄乌冲突以来，日本自民党政权将国际安全环境的变化，视为加快推动修宪强军的“国家正常化”进程的机遇。在精英集团的政治操弄和舆论操控下，日本国内主张“强军备战”的民粹主张日盛，和平主义和反战思潮式微，政坛、媒体和学界失去了理性多元的政策思辨，日本对外战略思维愈发僵化和极端。中国和日本不仅缔结有具有国际法效力的《中日和平友好条约》，其经济也是相互依存，深入融入地区产业链。但日本社会对此缺乏理性认知，围绕“中国威胁”的真伪不见任何政策讨论辨析，日本精英阶层更是陷于冷战思维难以自拔。 

Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the LDP regime has taken the change of the international security environment as an opportunity for “normalizing” the country, including amending the constitution and strengthening the military. Because of the elite group’s political manipulation and public opinion control, there is a surging populism in Japan calling for “strengthening the military and getting ready for war”, whereas people rooting for peace against war are in the minority. There is no more rational policy debating over different ideas in the political circle, the media, or the academia, and Japan’s thinking on foreign strategy becomes ever more rigid and extreme. China and Japan not only concluded the Japan-China Treaty of Peace and Friendship that remains effective under international law, but their economies are deeply interrelated and enmeshed in the regional industry chain. Yet Japanese society doesn’t seem to have a rational perception of this reality. There is no discussion or debate over whether the “China threat” is a legitimate and genuine concern, and its elite class is too poisoned by the Cold War mentality to think otherwise.

日本当政者需认清，通过渲染制造外部危机服务特定的政治目的，并不能推动日本重新强大，也难以带来绝对安全，最终只会陷入更大的安全困境。

Japanese policy makers must open their eyes to the fact that exaggerating and fabricating an external crisis to serve their ulterior political purposes won’t make Japan strong or bring it absolute security. It will only push the country to a greater security dilemma.

（作者是中国国际问题研究院亚太研究所特聘研究员）

(The author is a special research fellow at the Department for Asia-Pacific Studies, China Institute of International Studies)

Editor's Note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.