Japan's House of Representatives yesterday adopted what it calls
a "future-oriented" resolution, with a view of retroversion in
treating history issues, to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of
World War II.
The resolution, which pledged that Japan will make "further
contributions to build international peace at the 60th anniversary
of the creation of the UN, the war's end and the atomic bombings,"
was endorsed by lawmakers of all political parties except for the
Japanese Communist Party.
It mourns for all war dead and expresses deep remorse for
Japan's past time doing that caused tremendous suffering to the
people of Asian nations.
Compared with the resolution for the 50th WWII anniversary, the
new bill only put an emphasis of Japan's damages from US atomic
bombing while excluding the primary content about Japan's colonial
ruling and aggression against its neighboring countries.
The 50th WWII anniversary resolution, passed on June 9, 1995,
states that during a certain period in the not too distant past,
Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous
damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly
to those of Asian nations. In the resolution, Japan expressed deep
remorse for its wartime crimes.
According to Kyodo News, the opposition camp had taken issue
with the draft resolution lacking references to Japan's colonial
rule and acts of aggression as it did in 1995. After the ruling
Liberal Democratic Party refused to add the content, most of the
opposition parties voted for the resolution.
But Communist Party of Japan still opposed the resolution,
saying its wording did not adequately reflect upon the country's
past "war of aggression" and "colonial ruling."
(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)