米国メディアの日本批判に韓国の影・・・ 2013.5.4
2日付の日経新聞などによると、佐々江賢一郎駐米大使は、米ワシントン・ポスト(WP)紙の4月27日付の社説「歴史に向き合うことができない安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe's inability to face history)」に対する反論を1日付のWP紙に投稿したという。この寄稿文は冒頭で「日本政府は痛切な反省と心からのおわびの気持ちを表明し、内外のすべての犠牲者に哀悼の意を表明してきている」と述べた上で、「安倍内閣も認識は全く同じだ」と説明し、歴史認識を巡っては「歴史の個別の事実について歴史学者や有識者の研究が進むことで促進されることが望ましい」とも指摘しているという。 靖国神社の春季例大祭に合わせて安倍内閣の麻生財務大臣ら複数の閣僚などが参拝を行ったことに対して南コリアやチャイナが激しく反発し、国会で野党からの追求を受けた安倍首相が「・・脅しには屈しない」、「・・侵略の定義は国によって異なる・・」などと持論を展開する形で反転攻勢に出たことを契機に、南コリアやチャイナはもちろん、国内反日メディアも狂騒状態となり、米国でも前出のWP紙を含めてニューヨーク・タイムズ(NYT)やウォールストリート・ジャーナルなど複数のメディアが社説で安倍首相を批判する騒ぎとなった。 佐々江駐米大使の寄稿文を一読したあと、改めて問題となったWP紙の社説(全文を別掲する)を眺めてみると、奇妙な箇所が複数、存在することに気がついた。ひとつ目は「・・前世紀における日本によるコリアの植民地支配に対して、1995年に日本が行った公式謝罪( an official apology that Japan issued in 1995 for its colonization
of
Korea in the past country ・・)」という所謂「村山談話」に関するくだりである。
Shinzo Abe's inability to face history By Editorial Board, FROM THE MOMENT last fall when Shinzo Abe reclaimed the office of Japanese prime minister that he had bungled away five years earlier, one question has stood out: Would he restrain his nationalist impulses — and especially his historical revisionism — to make progress for Japan? Until this week, the answer to that question was looking positive. Mr. Abe has taken brave steps toward reforming Japan’s moribund economy. He defied powerful interest groups within his party, such as rice farmers, to join free-trade talks with the United States and other Pacific nations that have the potential to spur growth in Japan. He spoke in measured terms of his justifiable desire to increase defense spending. This week he seemed willing to put all the progress at risk. Asked in parliament whether he would reconsider an official apology that Japan issued in 1995 for its colonization of Korea in the past century, Mr. Abe replied: “The definition of what constitutes aggression has yet to be established in academia or in the international community. Things that happened between nations will look differently depending on which side you view them from.” Officials in South Korea and China responded with fury, and understandably so. Yes, history is always being reinterpreted. But there are such things as facts. Japan occupied Korea. It occupied Manchuria and then the rest of China. It invaded Malaya. It committed Aggression. Why, decades after Germany solidified its place in Europe by facing history honestly, are facts so difficult for some in Japan to acknowledge? We understand that South Korea and, to an even greater extent, China at times stoke anti-Japan sentiment for domestic political purposes. China distorts its own history and, unlike Japan, in many cases does not allow conflicting interpretations to be debated or studied. But none of that excuses the kind of self-destructive revisionism into which Mr. Abe lapsed this week. An inability to face history will prejudice the more reasonable goals to which South Korea and China also object. Mr. Abe has valid reasons, given the defense spending and assertive behavior of China and North Korea, to favor modernization of Japan’s defense forces. He has good reason to question whether Japan’s “self-defense” constitution, imposed by U.S. occupiers after World War II, allows the nation to come to the aid of its allies in sufficient strength. But his ability to promote reform at home, where many voters remain skeptical, and to reassure suspicious neighbors plummets when he appears to entertain nostalgia for prewar empire. |