712 { China’s Quest
commemorate the twentieth anniversary of that memorable visit. Deng, the
reader will recall, had set aside the history issue during his visit and gone
out of his way to convince Japanese that China was willing to close that page
of history. Jiang’s approach was radically different from Deng’s smooth andSep. 1972 PM Kakuei Tanaka
normalization visit to
BeijingJapan “keenly conscious ... for the serious damage
caused ... to the Chinese people through war,
and deeply reproaches itself.”
Oct. 1992 Emperor Akihito at banquet
in PRC hosted by Yang
Shangkun“In the long history of relationship between our
two countries, there was an unfortunate period
in which my country inflicted great sufferings
on the people of China. I deeply deplore this.”
Aug. 1995 PM Tomiichi Murayama ( JDP)
on W W II 50th
anniv.“Japan ... caused tremendous damage and
suffering to the people ... particularly to those of
Asian nations. ... [for these] irrefutable facts of
history [I] express ... deep remorse and state my
heartfelt apology.” (Emphasis added)
Sep. 1997 PM Ryutaro Hashimoto
press conference in
Beijingrepeats Aug. 1995 formulation, addiing “I would
like to repeat that this is the official position
of the Government of Japan ... I have made
this point very clear in a frank manner to the
Chinese side. Premier Li Peng [has said] that he
concurs completely in my remarks.”
Nov. 1998 Jiang Zemin State Visit to
Japan; joint declaration“Keenly conscious ... for the serious distress and
damage ... caused to the Chinese people through
its aggression ... and expressed deep remorse
for this”
Aug. 2000 Japan foreign minister
Kono speech in Beijing“Japan’s perception of past history was clearly
set out in the Statement by ... Mu r ay a m a ... The
spirit contained therein has been carried forth
by successive administrations and is now the
common view of the large number of Japanese
people.”
Oct. 2000 Premier Zhu Rongji says to
media that no Japan apology
exists on paper: Japan reply =“From the perspective of the Government
of Japan ... the Murayama Statement was
announced in 1995 in the form of a written
Statement based on a Cabinet decision.That
Statement was referred to by Prime Minister
Keizo Obuchi when he went to China and also
by Prime Minister Mori in the meeting that took
place on Friday.”
Oct. 20 01 PM Koizumi at W W II museum
in Beijing (after visit to
Yasukuni)“deeply feel the tragedy of the past war and
express heartfelt apology (dao qian) and lament
(ai dao) for the Chinese who lost their lives
because of aggression.” (Emphasis added)
Apr. 2005 PM Koizumi at “caused tremendous damage and suffering ...
Particularly those of Asian nations. JapanF IGU R E 26-3 Japan’s Apologies for Its History of Aggression
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Japan. http://w w w.mofa.go.jp/j_info/japan/opinion/umezu.html.
The Emperor’s 1992 comments in Japanese are available via the Imperial Household Agency at
http://’www.kunaicho.go.jp/okobota/01/speech/speech-h04e-china.html#china.