Ex-senior White House official blasts Japan's view on history

[bananas]

Source: Kyodo News International

A former senior U.S. government official criticized Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other leaders Wednesday for their views on history with neighboring countries before and during World War II.

Jeffrey Bader, former senior adviser for Asian affairs of the National Security Council, also warned the U.S. government could be more "vocal" if Japan reviewed past statements in which the government formally apologized for wartime aggressions in other Asian countries.

"The handling of historical issues in the last couple of months by Japanese leaders has not been adroit, to put it mildly," Bader told a symposium in Washington. He assumed the post in the first term of President Barack Obama.

Bader also mentioned Abe's controversial remark earlier this year that the word "invasion" has no established definition in the context of Japan's wartime rule over neighboring countries.

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Read more: http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/130613/ex-senior-white-house-official-blasts-japans-view-hist

[MrScorpio]

1. Old habits die hard nt

[AtheistCrusader]

3. Especially when you learn those habits from the United States.

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Did we ever apologize for Commodore Perry, and the resulting Meiji Restoration?

Thought not.

[Judi Lynn]

4. They are expected to get the official version of their own history from the US?

I don't think the people of the U.S. have ever been given the straight story on our own government's real history regarding the people of this country, not to mention people of other countries.

[iemitsu]

5. We never get the real stroy on anything.

[geek tragedy]

6. Japan gearing up its war machine would be China's problem, not ours. nt