Self-deceiving Abe bent on taking militaristic, dead-end road

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hypocritical, self-deceiving remarks on Monday should alert the region again to the right-wing kidnapped country's endeavor to roll back history and relive a militaristic dream.

There should be no place in the world to honor war criminals. Yet Abe and right-wing officials were determined to visit a shrine that hosts 14 Class-A war criminals, and then insisted the visit was justifiable.

He has thrown out talk about "world peace," yet the prime minister pushes for military buildup and the revision of the pacifist constitution that came out of World War II, meant to restrain a militaristic, aggressive Japan that committed atrocities in many Asian countries.

Abe has got used to and became skilled at the routine of infuriating Japan's neighbors, and then calling for dialogue by saying all the right words, such as "world peace," "address problems" and "understanding." The naked truth is that he has never had the sincerity to match these encouraging words with actions.

Not only China and its Asian neighbors, but also the United Statesand the whole world should be vigilant against a right-leaning Japan, as the Abe administration's revisionist, self-deceiving attitudes toward history and the agenda to rebuild a militaristic country inevitably pose a grave danger to regional security and stability.

The wounds inflicted by Japan's invasion and colonial rule of Asian countries during the first half of the 20th century were ever fresh when Abe visited the controversial war shrine and attempted to mask it as a visit for "peace."

The Chinese people will never forget the years-long Japanese aggression that cost tens of millions of lives as well as the Nanking Massacre in which more than 300,000 Chinese were brutally killed in six weeks, the lethal biochemical experiments conducted on live Chinese captives by the Japanese army, and numerous accounts of rape and other appalling atrocities that were beyond any humanity.

Among the victims were also millions of Japanese soldiers and civilians who were led into an unjust war by their leaders and paid dearly for the wrongdoings.

No country, no human being should go through that kind of suffering ever again. That is why the lessons of history should be correctly learned and taught to later generations. However, the Abe administration's unrepentant attitudes and provocative actions have made that impossible.

Without the courage to own up to its wartime aggressions and atrocities, Japan can never gain forgiveness from neighboring countries and the victims of the war, nor could it have respect from the international community.

Only by taking full responsibility of the country's past, sincerely reflecting on history and correctly teaching the coming generations, can Japan erect itself as a trustworthy nation again.