The People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, on Tuesday ran an editorial entitled "The essence of creating historical illusion is to disdain international justice" as follows:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been bombarded by the international community for his wrong words and actions, but he is still incorrigibly obstinate, talking absurdities and repeating his mistakes.
Recently, Abe used various occasions to defend his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 Class-A war criminals. He tried his best to stealthily substitute concepts with sheer fabrication and strained interpretation. Most ridiculously, while being interviewed in Davos, Switzerland, Abe compared China-Japan relations to the British-German ties on the eve of World War I. The intrigue of making historical illusions is intended to distract the international community's attentions and confuse right and wrong.
His favorites are also bustling about. Some have denied the Nanjing Massacre, expressing doubt about the just trial of Japanese militarism by the international community. There are those who have beat the drum for the theory that Japan's peaceful constitution is invalid, trying to break the international order safeguarding peace after victory in the world's anti-fascist war. Others have been busy revising standards for the approval of textbooks, asking publishing houses to describe the history of invasion with ambiguous terms, and claiming the Diaoyu Islands, which have belonged to China since ancient times, as an "integral part of Japan." Still others have tried to deny the facts about "comfort women," a war crime with iron-clad evidence.
One should not be ambiguous on major issues of principle. The Japanese right-wing politicians' bungling acts are like performances by clowns occasionally happening on the great stage of history.
However, people have to take a more vigilant attitude toward them, as they are trying to falsify history, challenging human conscience and confronting justice. It is very dangerous. (mo