Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has actually killed
any hope of an anticipated summit between himself and his Chinese
counterpart during his last days in office.
On Tuesday, one day before his administration celebrated its
fifth anniversary, the Japanese head of state showed he is not in
the mood to take care of the diplomatic fallout resulting from his
personal insensibilities.
Instead of any repentance, Koizumi reiterated an unchanged
commitment to his ostrich strategy in handling relations with
neighboring China and the Republic of Korea. Someday China will
regret refusing to hold summit talks with him for his visits to the
Yasukuni Shrine, he said.
To justify this, he quoted unnamed "foreign heads of state" who
said he was correct and that China and the ROK were not.
For his and those national leaders' credibility, we wish he had
been more specific about those comments. We, and we believe many
others, have strong curiosity about the reasoning process behind
the judgment of those heads of state.
Prime Minister Koizumi needs to know that what is "strange," as
he describes it, is his stubborn refusal to come to terms with
reason, rather than China's, the ROK's, and other Asian countries'
criticism of his approach to his country's unseemly past.
Any person, let alone a head of state, with a sensible mind
would see the right and wrong in such a matter of principle.
Koizumi's insistence on China and the ROK, both victims of
Japanese atrocities, swallowing injustices and embracing his
provocations in full smile is an unfair demand that reeks of
criminal logic.
His quibbling and unwillingness to take the initiative to
resolve the diplomatic gridlock that has accompanied his term in
office are driving many in China and the ROK to look beyond his
administration for clues of hope.
Junichiro Koizumi is someone we cannot go around in repairing
bilateral relations. Judging from his personal record to date, he
may not even regret it if the Junichiro Koizumi years go down in
history as some of the darkest days in contemporary China-Japan
relations.
But the two countries cannot afford to live in eternal
animosity.
Before he hands the relay baton to the next generation, the
Japanese leader should consult his conscience and ask himself what
image his administration has built for his nation in the immediate
neighborhood.
Time is running out for him to rethink and rectify his personal
mark on Japanese diplomacy, which is a failure at least in East
Asia.
(China Daily April 27, 2006)
