Japanese former PM criticizes Abe for stirring concerns, suspicions from neighbors

Former Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama criticized Wednesday that incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's flip-flopping remarks on historical issues have stirred concerns and suspicions from neighboring countries.

Murayama, who is famous for his 1995 landmark statement offering an apology to victims of Japan's wartime atrocities, said that Abe's controversial remarks such as his denial of Japan' s past aggression by questioning aggression's definition have raised concerns and doubts about whether Japan would repeat its past wrongdoings, especially at a time when the Abe's government is pushing forward a series of unpopular security bills.

The former prime minister told a press conference at the Japan' s Foreign Correspondents' Club that the 1995 Murayama Statement, to some extent, removed mistrust and doubts among Japan and its neighboring countries and helped Japan return to Asian nations' community. "It was the time to say that things we did in the past were bad. We had to admit that aggression was wrong. If there were areas that we should apologize for, we should offer an apology and we should never repeat the mistakes of the past," said Murayama, adding that it is the only way for Japan to regain trust from its closest neighbors, or Japan would be completely isolated.

However, incumbent Abe is going to issue his own statement to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II to downplay the world-recognized Murayama Statement by diluting Japan's responsibility for its wartime barbarities.

Local reports said that Abe is expected to issue the statement in an unofficial form -- prime minister's personal opinion -- so that he could be unnecessarily subject to the Cabinet's approval for the statement's content.

But Murayama stressed that the 1995 statement was approved by then Cabinet, meaning the statement represents the Japanese government's official stance.

He added that it is unallowable to reinterpret the Constitution to give green light to Japan's Self-Defense Forces to exercise the right to collective defense, saying he is worried about the Abe-led ruling coalition's move of ramming the controversial security bills through the parliament's lower house.

He emphasized that Japan has prevented itself from engaging in war for 70 years only because of the war-renouncing Constitution and pointed out that although the security situation surrounding Japan has changed, the unchanged thing is that dialogue and communication are still the only way to resolve conflicts. Endi