Facing history squarely prerequisite for better ties

From right, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida pose during the 7th trilateral foreign ministers' meeting in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 21, 2015. [Photo/IC]

The reopening of the regular talks between the foreign ministers of China, the Republic of Korea and Japan on Sunday in Seoul, after a hiatus of three years, sends a positive signal of a thaw in the relations between Japan and its two neighbors.

As three close neighbors and major economies in East Asia, their economic cooperation and joint efforts in various fields can make a great difference to the situation not just in East Asia but also the world at large.

However, China and the ROK have been at loggerheads with Japan in recent years because of how Japan looks at the war of aggression it launched against its neighbors.

It is unwise for the three countries to let what happened more than 70 years ago stand in the way of their three-way cooperation and prevent them from making more joint endeavors for the peace and development of East Asia and the entire world.

Yet, for both the Chinese and ROK peoples, the attempts by Japanese politicians to whitewash with both words and deeds what the Japanese aggressors did are obviously unacceptable.

What the Chinese and ROK peoples want is, first of all, for the Japanese government to have the right perception of the war. Denials of the existence of "comfort women" and visits by Japanese prime ministers to the Yasukuni Shrine where 14 A-class war criminals are enshrined are not the right attitude.

It is not that the Chinese and ROK peoples are oversensitive to the war. It is because they strongly believe that heartfelt reflection by the Japanese people over the miseries the Japanese invading forces inflicted on its neighbors is a prerequisite if the same tragedy is to be prevented from happening again.

Sincerely apologizing and atoning for the war crimes Japanese militarists committed during the war is also imperative if Japan is to regain its neighbors' trust, which obviously underlies their joint efforts to bring relations onto the right track.

Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida said on Sunday that Japan is willing to strive for the improvement of bilateral ties in the spirit of facing history squarely and advancing toward the future on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II and the creation of the United Nations.

There is no reason for China and the ROK not to welcome the goodwill gesture Japan has made. We sincerely hope that this meeting will help pave the way for smooth three-way cooperation toward a better future.