All political parties, especially the ideology- driven ones, have pursued the issue of rewriting history doggedly. In India, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has tried and to some extent succeeded in rewriting history and history textbooks whenever it has been in power. If the Hindu nationalist BJP's aim is to paint all those who invaded India, especially Muslims, in the blackest of colors, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and other right-wing politicians want to whitewash their country's history, depicting the East Asian nation as an innocent victim of World War II (Hiroshima and Nagasaki). This attempt to prettify history by ignoring unpleasant facts enrages China and South Korea who were both victims of Japanese aggression in the past. Japan invaded China in the 1930s when the latter was weak and vulnerable. It has never apologized fully for its wartime excesses to China and South Korea. These excesses include the beheading of Chinese men, using Chinese, Korean and other Southeast Asian women as sex slaves (“comfort women") by the Japanese troops during World War II and forcing Allied PoWs to build railways. In February 1996, a report for the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations described the comfort women as “sex slaves” and their treatment as a “crime against humanity”. The committee also wanted Japan to ensure that educational curricula include such historical facts. But rather than facing the past, Japanese leaders have been indulging in provocative gestures like visiting a shrine that honors convicted Japanese war criminals among the war dead. Shinzo Abe, who took office as prime minister on Wednesday for a third time, had visited the Yasukuni shrine in his first term — angering China and South Korea. There are reports that Abe does not agree with the1995 statement issued by the socialist Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, expressing regret for Japan's wartime aggression. In a more provocative gesture, the LDP policy chief Sanae Takaichi, appearing on television on May 12, 2013, told viewers that Abe doesn't accept the verdict of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal set up by the victorious Allied powers after World War II to try and punish Far Eastern war criminals. It is against this background that Japan's neighbors view Abe's plan to pass a law next year to reinterpret Japan's pacifist constitution. The Japanese leader wants a stronger security profile for his country. The military, he feels, should be freer to engage in actions that maintain international peace and order. LDP thinks the present US-imposed constitution restricts the military's freedom of action. Under the present constitution, Japan can use its troops only for defense purposes. The revisions proposed by the LDP would allow Tokyo to come to the aid of an ally and pave the way for its troops to fight overseas for the first time since World War II. Revising the constitution is not easy. It requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament before putting to a national referendum. Most important, an overwhelming majority of Japanese are against the military returning to a role resembling the one the Imperial Army played before and during World War II. But Abe has appointed, as his defense chief, a man who believes in pre-emptive strikes against enemies or whom Japan considers enemies. All this is calculated to heighten tension in the region. Outsiders are naturally concerned for several reasons. One, Japan's neighbors, especially the Chinese have bitter memories of a brutal Japanese occupation of their country. Second, China is no longer weak and vulnerable. Through the US-Japan security alliance, the US has maintained a powerful position in the Asia-Pacific region where China thinks it should be the major power. A more aggressive Japan aligned with the US will only heighten Chinese fears of encirclement. Third, there is still a dispute between China and Japan over a group of small, uninhabited islands called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China. Since late last year, observers have been noticing the appearance of Chinese warships and Japanese fighter jets around the disputed islands. Any misstep by one of the antagonists could lead to a flare up involving external powers. Fourth, if Japan wants a loose alliance of neighbors to contain North Korea, alienating China and South Korea is not the best way to do it. It is not Japan's constitution but its policies, as framed or contemplated by Abe and his party, that needs revision. It can't be Abe's aim to raise Japan's defense profile at the risk of plunging the region into turmoil and instability.
