PROVOCATIVE ACTIONS
Like his unchanged attitude on the nation's aggressive past, provocative acts by Abe's administration continue to occur.
China rebuked Japan in May after Abe's wife visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, known for celebrating war criminals. According to Japanese media reports, Akie Abe visited the shrine, which honors Japan's dead veterans, including 14 Class-A criminals of World War II.
In April, a group of Japanese lawmakers from various parties visited the shrine a day after Abe dedicated a "masakaki" tree to honor it.
Ironically, hours after Abe said he felt "deep remorse" about past wars and pledged to adhere to peace at the Asian-African Summit in Indonesia in April, three of his cabinet members visited the shrine.
All these actions add to statements by high-profile politicians seeking to whitewash Japan's wartime atrocities during WWII and revisions of textbooks trying to hide Japan's abhorrent role from the younger generations.
CONCRETE ACTIONS ARE KEY
Only with sincere apologies to the victims of its wartime atrocities and true remorse over its horrendous role during WWII, can Japan win trust from its war victim neighbors and eventually be accepted as a honest nation.
Such expressions must be accompanied by tangible actions in order to earn the trust of its neighbors, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said at a routine briefing on Tuesday.
With China's own WWII commemorations in the near future, the world is watching closely and wondering whether Abe will make any attempt to reconcile with its neighbors.
When asked whether Beijing would invite Japanese leaders to its commemorative events in March, Wang Yi, Chinese foreign minister and a former Chinese envoy to Japan, said China welcomed "anyone who was sincere about coming."
Positive moves from Japan on such occasions are important not least because most Japanese leaders have not yet reflected or apologized for wartime aggression, especially not to the extent that Germany has for the Holocaust.
