Japanese lawmakers on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a resolution that plays down this country’s militarist policies in World War II, less than two weeks before ceremonies take place across Asia marking the 60th anniversary of the war’s end on Aug. 15.
Though expressing “regret” for the wartime past, the resolution omitted the references to “invasion” and “colonial rule” that were in the version passed on the 50th anniversary.
The action will most likely be seen by China and Japan’s other Asian neighbors as further proof of growing nationalism here. A right-wing vandal seemed to capture a growing sentiment last week when he tried to scrape off the word “mistake” from a peace memorial in Hiroshima that said of Japan’s war efforts: “Let all the souls here rest in peace, as we will never repeat this mistake.”
See also: “China releases name list of foreign victims of Japanese germ tests” from The People’s Daily.
