by Tienchi Martin-Liao / January 15, 2014 /
As history looms large, tensions flare up between China and Japan.
Xi Jinping and Sinzo Abe
Xi Jinping (L), President of the People’s Republic of China; and Sinzo Abe (R), Prime Minister of Japan. Photos:
There is a famous photograph from 1970 that depicts West German Chancellor Willy Brand kneeling in front of the Jewish memorial in Warsaw. Unfortunately, these days an event of that magnitude, with its weighty symbolism of reconciliation, will never be repeated in Asia. The virtues of confession and regret seem to be of Christian heritage; they are unknown in many other cultures, including China and Japan. To that effect, the events that transpired in the two neighboring countries on December 26th reveal a lack of historical sense and political ethics on both sides.
In fact, it was a crazy match, an absurd political theater. China’s leaders and people were celebrating the 120th birthday of Mao Zedong, the founder of the CCP and People’s Republic of China; a tyrant who was responsible for millions of deaths in his country during the three decades of the new People’s Republic. On the same day, the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe paid his respects to the dead at Yasukuni shrine, which houses Japanese soldiers, including the war criminals, murderers, and rapists who invaded other countries during World War II. On December 26 both Beijing and Tokyo competed in the categories of evil and ugliness, trampling on human dignity and conscience as they did so.