Spotlight: Asian politicians, scholars urge Japan to adopt correct historical perspective

As this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II (WWII), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to give a closely-watched statement on Japan's war past. Yet, it remains to be seen whether he will acknowledge his country's wartime crimes and apologize to the victims.

For decades, the Japanese far-right wing activists have been denying the country's atrocities in WWII, distorting historical facts and whitewashing notorious war criminals.

But the more worrying fact is that those ultra-rightists are gradually gaining more political clout in Japan. Nationalism and the extreme right have emerged stronger than ever since Abe, Japan's incumbent prime minister, was re-elected in 2012.

Abe has been trying to loosen the pacifist constitutional bonds that have held Japan in check since 1945 and give his country a more "active" role in the conflicts of the region and beyond.

Meanwhile, experts and politicians from Asian countries have urged Japan to adopt a correct perspective on history, which means respecting the facts and learning lessons from the past.

China reiterated its stance that Japan should send a "clear and correct" message on its wartime responsibility and not continue its current wrong and dangerous path towards nationalism.

"China and other Asian countries as well as the world are watching the Japanese leader's upcoming statement closely," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Friday, urging Japan to face up to and reflect profoundly on the war launched by Japanese militarists against neighboring Asian countries.

Only by doing so can Japan realize real reconciliation with its neighbors and develop a future-oriented relationship with them, Hua said.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye repeated her call on the Japanese prime minister to adopt the facts-based historical perspective of previous governments in his upcoming statement.

"Taking the meaningful opportunity, the Japanese government should make it clear it completely inherits the historical perspective of previous cabinets and show a mature attitude to newly start meeting with neighboring countries," Park said.

Bambang Suryono, a senior Indonesian political analyst, said that on numerous occasions Abe has said and done inappropriate things regarding Japan's behavior in WWII, such as calling "comfort women," women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army, "victims" of human smuggling or paying tribute at the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

Tseng Hui-yi, a research associate at the East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore, said he doesn't expect Abe to change his right-wing political stance because Abe has conceded that he is a staunch rightist.

Chieng Feng, vice president of the Thai newspaper Asia News Time, said that Japan is the least repentant country of the previous Axis countries, urging Abe to make Japan and the Japanese people his top priority and not repeat his country's disastrous war past. Endi