2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations

The Anti-Japanese demonstrations of 2005 are demonstrations that happened in Spring, 2005 in China and Korea to protest against a Japanese history textbook called "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" (新しい歴史教科書) or "New History Textbook" which downplays or whitewashes the nature of Japan's military aggression in the Sino-Japanese War, in Japan's annexation of Korea in 1910, and in World War II.

Background

The textbook in question was written by the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform, a conservative Japanese organization. The critiques mainly insist that it whitewashes wartime atrocities, de-emphasizes the subject of the Chinese and Korean comfort women, and avoids contemporary issues surrounding Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni shrine in honor of dead Japanese soldiers, where the enshrined include the names of many convicted and executed war criminals.

Japan's official policy is that publishers have the right to freedom of speech. The central government does have the right to stop textbooks from being published (see Japanese history textbook controversies), provided that they contain factual errors or personal opinions. The particular concern of the 2005 demonstration was the textbook of Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform. Since its official authorization in 2001, this textbook has only hampered relations between Japan and its East Asian neighbors, primarily Korea and China. In the early 2005, news of the Japanese government's re-authorization of the "Atarashii Rekishi Kyokasho" led to multinational public protest demonstrations. The textbook has been publicly denounced by Japan Teachers Union and as the result, according to a CNN article in April of 2004, it is being used by only 18 of the nation's 11,102 junior high schools. [1]. According to a recent Asahi Shimbun article from September of 2005, in four years since its initial adoption, the textbook is only being used in 0.04% of Japan's junior high schools, which is far from the 10% penetration that the Japanese Society for History Textbook Reform had aimed for [2].

Critics in several countries, most notably the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), the Republic of Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Japan itself claim that the textbooks sanitize their reporting of the wartime events. These critics claim that it is not historically justifiable to glorify Japanese wartime activities or to omit alleged atrocities. The textbook controversy plays a role in spurring demands by Northeast Asian nations for more Japanese government apologies for wartime atrocities, despite repeated apologies by Japanese officials and the Emperor in the past (see List of war apology statements issued by Japan).

The Japanese government has demanded an apology from the PRC government for the protests and compensations for the damage made to the properties of their diplomatic missions, claiming that the protests are primarily motivated by hostile or racist Sinocentric anti-Japanese sentiment, and that the PRC government aided and abetted violence against Japanese civilians including providing exclusive busses, trains and meals for the protesters organized by the government.

The focus of anti-Japanese sentiment in the 2005 protests was not confined to the textbook issue, but included wider Japan-related issues, such as the bid by Japan for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and territorial disputes. In the PRC, several Japanese-themed shops and malls were attacked and vandalized by protesters. Many of these were Chinese-owned and operated. Several Japanese nationals residing in China have been reported as injured and a few killed.

To date only Japanese history textbooks have been called into question. The treatment of historical issues in China and other countries that were subject to Japanese aggression is generally ignored (see "China's Textbooks Twist and Omit History," New York Times December 6, 2004]; "Beijing dispatch: A tale of two massacres," Guardian, June 24, 2005). However, this broader context, which would inevitably put the focus on the systematic distortion of history by Chinese textbooks (including the issue of who really fought the Sino-Japanese war), may become more relevant if Japan presses its offer of a joint commission to review textbooks in both countries.

People's Republic of China

In March 2005, demonstrations were organized in several cities in the People's Republic of China, including Chongqing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhengzhou, Shenyang, Ningbo, Harbin, Chengdu, Luoyang, Qingdao, Changsha, Hefei, Beijing, Wuhan, Fuzhou and Shanghai. In some cases, demonstrators attacked and damaged Japanese embassies, consulates, supermarkets, restaurants (mostly franchise businesses owned by Chinese) as well as people, prompting the Japanese government to demand an apology and compensation for damages. There were some peaceful demonstrations in Hong Kong.

The official PRC attitude towards the demonstrations is considered by foreign observers as enigmatic. On the one hand, the government allowed the demonstrations to occur in the first place. While the PRC policed the protests, some observers believe that measures to rein in the violence and property damage were deliberately ineffective. However, the PRC has only indirectly reported the current protests in state-owned media, withholding coverage from a national audience. State-owned media in the PRC nevertheless carried extensive coverage of anti-Japanese demonstrations in South Korea, as well as distant but related events, such as the European commemoration of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Internet censorship has been extended to subjects related to the protests. Many universities prohibited students from coming onto or leaving the campus. Mass transit systems in close proximity to protest rally points were shut down. However, this policy was contradicted in several cities, including Beijing, where city buses were used by the municipal authorities to ferry students into the protests. Students at Tsinghua and Peking Universities also reported receiving phone calls from university authorities encouraging them to demonstrate. In the second half of April 2005, the People's Daily published several articles to calm down the protestors, and the Ministry of Public Security declared that "unauthorized marches were illegal". [3]

Interestingly enough, the PRC had never previously protested so violently against Japan in 60 years since World War II, and hundreds of textbook revisions through the years.

PRC police tactics are perceived to be similar to those utilized when demonstrations were held outside the American embassy in Beijing after NATO forces accidentally bombed the PRC embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in May 1999.

The slogan "patriotism is not a sin" (爱国无罪 àiguó wúzuì: literally translated, "it is not a crime to be patriotic") is popular, albeit in a sarcastic sense, among the PRC protesters. This slogan is used to describe a justification of violence against Japanese individuals, on the basis of reciprocating Japanese atrocities in China during the Second World War.

Political observers on the U.S. National Public Radio have argued that the controversy is being allowed by the PRC government partly in order to further a multitude of political goals. [4] American news outlets CNN and Time Magazine have also pointed out that historical inaccuracies are not limited to Japanese textbooks, but that Chinese government-made textbooks are equally rife with omissions and non-neutral point of view. [5] Cases of questioned text include the Great Leap Forward which caused 30 million Chinese deaths ("the People suffered major losses"), China's 1979 invasion of Vietnam, the Cultural Revolution ("lots of appalling events happened") and the Tiananmen Square "Incident" of 1989, in which thousands of protesters may have been killed. Tibet is a subject given scant mention except by foreign press, [6] and Xinjiang remains detached from the ongoing controversy.

Japanese response to Chinese protests

In Japan, no large-scale anti-PRC rallies or demonstrations took place, although a handful of far-right wing protestors demonstrated outside PRC consulates. Nevertheless, more and more people canceled their travel plans to China, and some doubt was raised about the 2008 Summer Olympics, scheduled to be held in Beijing.

The Japanese foreign minister visited Beijing hastily to meet his counterpart on April 17. The Xinhua News Agency reported that in the meeting held in Beijing between PRC and Japanese foreign ministers, the Japanese minister offered an apology for Japan's wrongdoings during World War II. However, Xinhua omitted in its report that in this meeting the Japanese negotiators demanded an apology and compensation for damage against Japanese property and people. That demand was rejected by Li Zhaoxing, the Chinese foreign minister. Meanwhile, the Japanese foreign ministry officially denied the news reports from the state-controlled Xinhua News Agency, which reports little about the on-going patriotic demonstrations in major Chinese cities.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange recorded a sharp plunge on Monday, April 18, and correlations between the demonstrations and Sino-Japanese economic ties are raised in the financial industry.

Japanese Premier Junichiro Koizumi expressed his deep remorse for the suffering that Japan caused other Asian nations during World War II at the Asia-Africa Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia on April 22. However, 81 Diet members visited Yasukuni Shrine hours before, causing more controversy inside and outside Japan about the true attitude of Tokyo on this subject. [7] [8]. Koizumi met with Hu Jintao on April 23. [9]

Japanese companies have responded economically by repositioning investment to southeast Asia and India and away from China. Politically, right wing voices have become more popular (or tolerable), and even previously unpopular PM Koizumi's re-election was a reaction to the Chinese embassy incident. Japan also has reacted by considering joint military deterrance with Russia, as Russia itself is increasingly uneasy with China's military buildup.

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Although in the past the government of the Republic of China on Taiwan has been severely critical of the content of Japanese history textbooks, in the wave of 2005 revisions of the textbooks, the ROC has, for the most part, been much quieter than the PRC. This is indicative of the relatively high level of tension in the relationship between the PRC and the ROC and the comparatively good relations between the ROC and Japan. Earlier in 2005, Japan and the United States had issued a joint declaration calling for a "peaceful solution" to the Taiwan issue, a declaration which angered the PRC, which protested that this declaration constituted interference in "internal affairs".

Republic of Korea (South Korea)

South Korea vigorously protested the official approval of the 2005 Japanese history textbooks. South Korean Minister of Trade Kim Hyun-Chong canceled a planned visit to an Asian trade summit in Japan [10].

On May 6, 2005 in a meeting between President Roh Moo-hyun and Liberal Democratic Party's Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe, President Roh demanded Japan takes step to properly educate its citizens. He told Takemura that the teaching of history should not be treated as the academic matter and freely discussed but as the political matter and with the responsibility falling on the government to control it. [11]

However, Japanese and South Korean relations are much more harmonious as compared to China as bilateral and pop-culture exchanges are frequent and Seoul's blame is put squarely on Japan's government, not targeting civilians.

Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea)

In 2005, North Korea condemned the official approval of the revision of Japanese textbooks. One official was quoted as calling the textbooks "philistinism peculiar to Japan, a vulgar and shameless political dwarf" [12].

Specific issues

Nanjing Massacre

Many historians recognize that widespread atrocities were committed by the Imperial Japanese Army in and around Nanking (now Nanjing), China, after the capital's fall to Japanese troops on 13 December 1937. This event and associated atrocities breeds considerable anger in many Chinese today. The Japanese textbook in question only briefly mentions the atrocities committed and refers to Nanjing Massacre as follows:

many Chinese soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded by Japanese troops (the Nanking Incident). Documentary evidence has raised doubts about the actual number of victims claimed by the incident. The debate continues even today" (p. 49). [13]

While the use of the word "incident" is standard Japanese historiographical terminology for focal events, such as Tiananmen "Incident" （天安門事件） rahter than massacre, it is objected to by Chinese as a deliberate playing down of the events in question.

Other textbooks, which are used in an overwhelming majority of Japanese schools, are more direct.

Comfort women

Comfort women are women who worked as prostitutes in military brothels in Japanese-occupied countries during World War II. The institution of comfort women was created by the Japanese military as a means to curb random Japanese soldiers raping civilians; however, it is being criticized as one of Japanese war crimes today for forcing Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Filipino and Vietnamese women to provide sex. The Japanese military had stated at the time that the women were all 'voluntary' prostitutes. However, forced prostitutions often took place.

Testing of chemical and biological weapons on Asian civilians and Allied POWs

During the height of Japan's power in 1942, the Japanese military began testing of certain chemical and biological weapons as an alternative method to winning the war. Human experiments were conducted on civilians and Allied POWs. Both China (PRC) and the United States demanded the "test results" in exchange for keeping quiet.

Japan's membership in the UN Security Council

Japan has long tried to gain entry into the UN Security Council as a permanent member. There is strong sentiment, particularly in China, against giving Japan a seat. Suggestions have been made that it would be dangerous to give Japan too much power on an international level, since it could give rise to new Japanese imperialism. Another argument is that Japan, as a defeated nation of World War II, would contradict the UN Charter if it was to enter the Security Council as a permanent member (both Germany and Italy have been prohibited from the Council for the very same reason.)

Senkaku Islands (Diaoyu)

The Senkaku Islands, known in Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands, are a group of islands in the East China Sea with an area of 7 km². Japan currently has control over the islands, but both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China government on Taiwan claim them. Tensions over the islands have surfaced in the late 1990s and were one issue in the 2005 protests in China.

Gas and oil in the East China Sea

Both China and Japan are interested in exploiting deposits of natural gas and oil in the Xihu Trough of the East China Sea. Both countries are net importers of energy, and the energy needs of China are mushrooming. The U.S. Department of Energy notes a moderate estimate of 100 billion barrels of oil in the South China Sea. notes

China has been drilling in the Xihu Trough since 2003. China's claims to these islands come from its claim of the entire continental shelf. Japan's claim is by the standard 200 mile (370 km) EEZ international maritime treaty. Practically speaking, both nations have split the territory. Japan fears that Chinese drilling is likely to remove oil from territory claimed by Japan through suction from Japan's side. After two years of repeated requests to China to disclose information on the deposits in the hope of co-development, on April 13, 2005, Japan granted drilling rights to two Japanese companies, a move immediately protested by the Chinese as the drilling will take place in disputed territorial waters. The companies have not yet been formally granted permission to drill and this is expected to take several months. China National Offshore Oil Corporation, a Chinese, state-owned company, plans to drill near the disputed EEZ line between China and Japan beginning in August. [14]

Authors of Japanese textbooks

Nobukatsu Fujioka

References

Ienaga, Saburō. Taiheiyō Sensō. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1968. Written as a counterweight to the controversial textbooks, it attempts to survey the reasons for and the conduct of the Pacific War from 1931 to 1945. Translated and entitled variously:
- The Pacific War, 1931–1945: A Critical Perspective on Japan's role in World War II. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. ISBN 0394734963.
- The Pacific War: World War II and the Japanese, 1931–1945. New York: Pantheon Books, 1978. ISBN 0394497627.
- Japan's Last War: World War II and the Japanese, 1931–1945. Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1979. ISBN 070810312X.
Saaler, Sven; Politics, Memory and Public Opinion : The History Textbook Controversy and Japanese Society . Munich: Iudicium, 2005. ISBN 3891298498

External links

New History Textbook - English translation of the schoolbook which is criticized by China and the Republic of Korea (Modern times history relation & contemporary history relation)
Translated Version of Controversial Japanese Textbook to Go Online
English Translations of Japan's Middle School History Textbooks (JE Caleidoscope)
Japan textbook angers Chinese, Korean press - BBC coverage of the story.
Pictures from around the world of protests against the Japanese history textbooks
"Textbook Authorization System in Japan" by Miki Y. Ishikida
Are Japanese textbooks distorting history?