Abe (Japan) risks China fury over war comments (pardon of war criminals)

[TexasLawyer]

Abe risks China fury over war comments

By Colin Joyce in Tokyo
(Filed: 07/10/2006)

The new prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, risked outrage yesterday when he stated that Japanese war criminals were not guilty under domestic law and should have been pardoned when Tokyo regained self-government.



Mr Abe's comments were a direct reference to 28 Japanese "Class A" Second World War criminals at the trial staged by the Americans in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948. They were deemed to bear the most responsibility for starting the war in the Pacific and for atrocities. Seven were executed, including prime minister Hideki Tojo.

Responding to questions in parliament, Mr Abe said: "The people who are said to be so-called Class A criminals were tried and convicted as war criminals at the Tokyo trial but they were not war criminals under domestic laws."

<snip>

His comments serve to cement his reputation as a revisionist who believes that the Japanese have little to apologise for over the war. In the past, China and South Korea have reacted angrily to signs that Japan lacks remorse for its wartime aggression.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=E21PPC45AX1RFQFIQMGCFFWAVCBQUIV0?xml=/news/2006/10/07/wjap07.xml

[wickerwoman]

1. Proof that America doesn't have the market on asshead conservatives

cornered.

I went to Nanjing last week. Before that, I have to admit that I was a little put off by the anti-Japan hysteria that I encounter pretty frequently but I'm coming to understand it more and more. At least the Germans acknowledged what they did and paid reparations. They haven't spent the last fifty years trying to cover it up.