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Commentary: Asian African Summit platform for sincere cooperation, not T-stage for peace stunt

Xinhua, April 21, 2015 Adjust font size:

The upcoming Asian African Summit in Indonesia is aimed at carrying on the spirit of unity, friendship and cooperation with sincere actions, and there is no place for any sort of peace stunt.

According to Japanese media reports, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will attend the summit to preach in a speech Tokyo's "proactive contributions to peace and development" over the past 70 years since the end of WWII, and he is unlikely to refer to heartfelt apology for Japan's wartime aggression, colonial rule and other crimes.

Such an address is not expected to draw much sympathy, not only because much of the audience comes from nations victimized by Japan's wartime atrocities and past colonization, but also because it precludes Abe's statements on the shameful war history to be delivered in high-profile events marking the 70th WWII anniversary later this year.

The speech, if crafted with a so-called "future-oriented" tone rather than an apologetic one as reported, will sound irrelevant to a landmark occasion to commemorate and revitalize the Bandung Spirit that embodies the developing nations' pursuit of peace and opposition to colonialism.

Despite all the empty talk of peace, the current Japanese government has been moving toward the opposite end by challenging the post-war order, extending frequent reservations about its war defeat and playing tricks to challenge historical verdicts.

In one of the typical cases, Japan revised school history textbooks to whitewash its wartime barbarities. It also pushed the G7 foreign ministers to meddle in the South China Sea, and lift the ban on the country's collective self-defense right so that its army could combat overseas.

Such historical revisionism, unscrupulous political maneuver and military adventurism undoubtedly run counter to the Bandung Spirit, which emphasizes non-interventionism and discourages the use of collective defense to serve the selfish interests of some particular powers.

Rather than using it as a T-stage for delivering empty peace talk, Japan needs to see the Asian African Summit as a golden opportunity to sincerely repent to nations victimized by its wartime colonial rule and aggression. Endi