Japan's resolution on China worryingly weird: China Daily editorial

The immediate and fierce responses of China's top legislature and foreign ministry toward the so-called resolution on China's human rights the lower house of the Japanese Diet passed on Tuesday render the word games of the resolution's authors a fool's errand.

In a nod to the close economic ties and people-to-people exchanges with China, the Japanese lawmakers responsible did not refer directly to "China" in the text of the resolution, and steered clear of such expressions as "human rights violations", opting instead for "human rights situation".

However, that does not change the nature of the resolution as an egregious document, as the Chinese responses pointed out. No matter how much it tries to walk a self-defined line, it still disregards the truth, maliciously defames China, seriously violates international law and the basic norms governing international relations, and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs.

Without providing any factual evidence, the resolution simply parrots the allegations of Washington, in logic, discourse and intention, calling on the Japanese government to work with other parties to address "the concerns" regarding China.

By adopting such a resolution — the first of its kind the Japanese parliament has passed in history — on the first day of the Chinese New Year, a lunar festival that many people in Japan and the Asia-Pacific celebrate, and three days before the opening of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, some Japanese politicians are simply showing their willingness to dance to the tune of Washington. It will be the region as a whole that pays the costs for that.

Since taking office in October, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has pledged repeatedly that Japan would not mince its words with regard to China, and he appointed former defense minister Gen Nakatani as his aide on human rights in November, a move that intimated what has come.

Japan, a country that has not yet truly repented for its war crimes, has never ceased taking advantage of the United States' strategic anxiety over China's development to advance its agenda of regaining its status as a world power.

That is why the word games of the resolution actually warrant the vigilance of the whole region.

Although with their divide-and-rule strategy for the region always in mind, the strategists in Washington will be willing to turn a blind eye to that, as they are confident that the US will benefit from the mess in the region again as it did after World War II even if the cinders of militarism are rekindled in Japan.

The willingness some Japanese politicians have to tango with the US in the latter's strategy to contain China by no means indicates that they are resigned to do the bidding of their one-time occupiers, but their willingness to stoop to conquer.

That's why some politicians with vision and sense in Japan strongly oppose this resolution, as they know, if unchecked, Japan could soon be recklessly repeating its historical errors.