Gen. Toshio Tamogami, Japan's Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) Chief of Staff, is likely to be removed from office for justifying Japan's aggression against China and other Asian countries during World War II, Kyodo News reported Friday, citing government sources.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has decided to sack the 60-year-old general, who asserted that Japan should be allowed to exercise the right to collective self-defense and possess "offensive weaponry," said the report.
In an essay released earlier Friday, Tamogami said that it is "false" to accuse Japan of having been an aggressor nation before and during World War II.
In the essay entitled "Was Japan an Aggressor Nation?", the general wrote that Japan had been drawn into the Sino-Japanese Warby then Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek, who headed the Chinese Nationalist Party, and referred to Japan as a "victim."
Japan "is said to have invaded" the Chinese mainland and the Korean Peninsula in the prewar period, wrote Tamogami, adding that few people, however, are aware that the Japanese army "was stationed in these countries on the basis of treaties."
Prime Minister Taro Aso voiced his disapproval of the essay later in the day.
Criticizing Tamogami for his viewpoints, Aso said that it is "not appropriate" for an ASDF chief to publish such an essay, even though it was "in a private capacity."
Source:Xinhua
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