China urges Japan to retract erroneous remarks, stop fobbing off

China urges the Japanese side to learn the lessons of history, do soul-searching, take seriously what it has heard from the Chinese side, simply retract the erroneous remarks as it should and take practical steps to honor its political commitments to China, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday.

"On issues of principle, an evasive attitude will not get the Japanese side anywhere," Lin said at a regular news briefing.

Lin said the Japanese side keeps hiding and fudging its position on the Taiwan question. Whenever asked, the Japanese side simply would not mention the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and the Japanese Instrument of Surrender -- all of which made clear that Taiwan be restored to China, nor the four political documents that serve as the political foundation of China-Japan relations, nor the political commitment made by the Japanese government to the one-China principle, he said.

Lin said all the Japanese side has done is dodging the issue by claiming that its position "remains unchanged," adding that not even once has the Japanese side fully articulated what exactly that position is.

He said perhaps what the Japanese side would not clarify is not just its position on the Taiwan question. Dec. 1 marks the 82nd anniversary of the Cairo Declaration. This document, together with a series of other international legal instruments, stipulate China's sovereignty over Taiwan, and are vital outcomes of the World Anti-Fascist War and an integral part of the postwar international order.

"Japan has an obligation under international law to observe those documents, which is the prerequisite for Japan to be readmitted to the international community after the war. But the Japanese side does not even mention a word about those instruments with full effect under international law, and instead keeps quoting a document that excludes China and some other Asian countries who suffered the most from Japanese aggression and colonialism," he said.

"That is a clear sign of oblivion to the tragic memory of Japan's militarist aggression, a serious disregard for the history of the World Anti-Fascist War, and a blatant challenge to the UN's authority and the postwar international order," he said.

Lin said the Japanese side has in recent years been revamping the security and defense policies, beefing up the defense budget year after year and seeking to revise its three non-nuclear principles, and some forces in Japan have been trying hard to break free from the Pacifist Constitution and Japan's legal obligations as a defeated country in WWII.

"They never truly learned the lessons from history, never truly did any soul-searching about Japan's war atrocities or looked at them squarely, and never truly sought to prevent the revival of militarism in Japan. They hope that by whitewashing and not mentioning the true history, they could somehow make the world forget and release Japan from its obligations, but the world will not be deceived," Lin said.

"The course of history must not be reversed, and the bottom line of peace must not be crossed. Japan prevaricated to downplay the situation while continuing down the wrong path. China would absolutely not accept that," the spokesperson said.