The jitters over what Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would say in his statement this summer to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of Japan’s last war illustrate how the way the nation should come to terms with its history of aggression and colonial rule of its Asian neighbors remains an issue seven decades on. Abe’s reported plan to lay the emphasis on the future in the Aug. 15 statement should not be an attempt to water-down Japan’s responsibility for its past behaviors. He needs to weigh the potential diplomatic repercussions of his planned statement, in particularly on Japan’s strained ties with China and South Korea.
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