World : Japan’s China Envoy Apologizes for Takeshita’s Statement on War
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BEIJING — Japan’s ambassador to China, Toshijiro Nakajima, apologized today for any misunderstanding over a statement by Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita that future historians must decide whether Japan was the aggressor in World War II.
He told Vice Foreign Minister Liu Shuqing that Japan recognizes the great harm it inflicted on other Asian countries during the war.
The official China Daily newspaper criticized Takeshita’s speech last week to Japan’s Parliament as a whitewash of Japanese aggression.
The newspaper said it was surprised that Takeshita “should make such cynical utterances” and “would rather resort to sophistry than speak the truth.”
“Such an absurd approach to such an important issue by a Japanese leader will smear the image of Japan as a trustworthy member of the world community and may lead the Japanese people astray once more,” the commentary said.
More than 10 million Chinese lost their lives during Japan’s 1937-45 invasion of the Chinese mainland.
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