TOKYO - Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's expression of remorse before fellow Asian leaders Friday for wartime aggression is the latest Japanese effort to apologize while also implying that Japan has already faced up to its past.
Koizumi was speaking before a summit that included Chinese President Hu Jintao and leaders of other countries invaded by Japan. He said the Japanese "through colonial rule and aggression" had caused "tremendous damage and suffering."
"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility. And with feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology always engraved in mind, Japan has resolutely maintained, consistently since the end of World War II, never turning into a military power but an economic power," Koizumi said.
While the audience was more international, broadcast across the world from a meeting of about 50 leaders, the wording was consistent with a landmark apology made by the then-prime minister in 1995 on the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Koizumi notably expressed his apology in the passive -- the feelings "are always engraved in mind" -- with the active part of the sentence stressing that Japan is now peaceful.
His speech ended with a call for reform of the United Nations -- a cherished goal of Japan which wants a permanent seat on the Security Council.
The audience at the Asia-Africa summit included Kofi Annan, the secretary general of the UN, and President Hu Jintao of China, which says Japan has not atoned sufficiently for its wartime atrocities to win a prestigious seat.
Koizumi has been seeking a summit in Jakarta with Hu to smooth relations after three weekends of sometimes violent protests in China protesting Japan's treatment of its history and its Security Council bid.
"The speech is aimed at soliciting support from Asian and African nations to back Japan's goal of securing a permanent seat on the UN Security Council," the Nihon Keizai Shimbun newspaper's evening edition said in an analysis.
Kaoru Okano, a senior political scientist and professor emeritus at Meiji University, noted that Koizumi was using the same language as the August 15, 1995 statement by then-prime minister Tomiichi Murayama.
"Koizumi has not been able to sit down with his Chinese counterparts to exchange views. He is using the Murayama statement as a political tool," Okano said.
Okano said Koizumi's words Friday were contradicted by the Japanese leader's visits to Yasukuni Shrine, which is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese war dead including seven World War II leaders hanged for war crimes.
Protests broke out this month in both China and South Korea, accusing Japan of not having apologized for its bloody occupation, after Tokyo approved a nationalist textbook that allegedly whitewashes some of the worst abuses.
Murayama read out the statement in Tokyo on August 15, 1995 after it was approved by the cabinet. He stated his "heartfelt apology" while expressing "once again my feelings of deep remorse."
The Murayama statement has been used as a bedrock for future statements on Japan's remorse over the war.
In November 1998, prime minister Keizo Obuchi repeated Murayama's statement during a summit with China's then-president Jiang Zemin. The two countries issued a joint statement in which Japan expressed its "deep remorse" over its past.
Koizumi, on an October 2001 visit to a wartime resistance memorial in Beijing, said he offered "my heartfelt apology and condolences to the Chinese victims of aggression."
04/22/2005 08:50 GMT