Attempts to ignore history will be opposed

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Attempts to ignore history will be opposed

By Zhang Yunbi (China Daily) 08:38, September 04, 2013

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Beijing makes rare statement on anniversary of war victory

Any attempts to whitewash the history of Japanese aggression will be firmly opposed and rejected by everyone in the Asian neighbors it victimized and the international community, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Tuesday.

Qin Gang made the remarks in a written statement released on the 68th anniversary of the Chinese people's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

"Only by remembering that period of history and learning lessons from it can we ensure that the historic tragedy will not be repeated," he said.

Observers said a statement from the ministry on the anniversary is rare. They said the ministry made the statement as a warning against Japan's strategy of removing postwar constitutional bans on a military buildup and the amnesia of some prominent political figures regarding that country's militaristic past.

Gao Haikuan, vice-president of the China Society of the History of Sino-Japanese Relations, said the right-wing mood is now "an issue" that is spreading within Japanese politics.

"It does not simply exist in a small number of Japanese politicians. The entire Japanese political arena is shifting to the right," Gao Haikuan warned.

After assuming office in December, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been challenging the postwar international order.

In March, Abe said at a Japanese Parliamentary hearing that the ruling of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East "was made by those who won World War II", local media reported.