By Chung Min-uck
Japan's hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe likened his country's current tensions with China to the rivalry between Britain and Germany before the outbreak of World War I (1914-1918), Wednesday (local time).
His comments were made during the World Economic Forum in Davos and are expected to prompt more tension among neighboring nations, particularly, Korea and China, whose ties Japan are already overshadowed by Tokyo's unrepentant attitude towards its imperial past.
"Abe has always been this way and will stick to this rightist stance in the future as well," said Bae Jung-ho, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), Thursday. "The more Abe makes those kinds of remarks the closer Korea and China will become. The U.S., Japan's main ally, seems to also dislike such unnecessary provocations.
"Japan under the leadership of Abe will experience isolation as time passes."
At the forum, the ultra right-winger said that China and Japan were currently in a "similar situation" to that of Britain and Germany, according to reports, adding that China's increase in military spending serves as another source of regional tension.
Some experts analyzed Abe's move as an attempt to shift the responsibility for the current tensions in Northeast Asia to China, and gain ground for its ongoing move to normalize Japan's Self-Defense Forces by exercising its right to collective self-defense in the event of war.
Tokyo has recently come under fire for causing regional instability by refusing to address long-running grievances with Korea and China who suffered from Japan's aggression in the early part of the 20th century.
Last month, Abe paid his respects at the Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals.
Abe was the first Japanese prime minister to visit the shrine in more than seven years.
The move also drew rare opposition from Washington.
Regarding the matter, Abe said at the Davos forum that his visit to the war shrine in Tokyo has generated "major misunderstanding" among its neighbors, claiming he merely paid his respects to soldiers who fell fighting in Japanese wars.
He fell short of saying that he "regrets" or "will not be" making future visits to the contentious shrine.
"I had no intention whatsoever to hurt the feelings of people in China and Korea," he said at the gathering of world leaders.
Meanwhile, Japan has also been engaged in territorial disputes with Korea over the Seoul-controlled islets of Dokdo, and with China over islands in the South China Sea.
Tensions rose in November when Beijing unilaterally announced a new air defense zone that covered the disputed islands with Japan called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
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| Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe |
His comments were made during the World Economic Forum in Davos and are expected to prompt more tension among neighboring nations, particularly, Korea and China, whose ties Japan are already overshadowed by Tokyo's unrepentant attitude towards its imperial past.
"Abe has always been this way and will stick to this rightist stance in the future as well," said Bae Jung-ho, a research fellow at the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), Thursday. "The more Abe makes those kinds of remarks the closer Korea and China will become. The U.S., Japan's main ally, seems to also dislike such unnecessary provocations.
"Japan under the leadership of Abe will experience isolation as time passes."
At the forum, the ultra right-winger said that China and Japan were currently in a "similar situation" to that of Britain and Germany, according to reports, adding that China's increase in military spending serves as another source of regional tension.
Some experts analyzed Abe's move as an attempt to shift the responsibility for the current tensions in Northeast Asia to China, and gain ground for its ongoing move to normalize Japan's Self-Defense Forces by exercising its right to collective self-defense in the event of war.
Tokyo has recently come under fire for causing regional instability by refusing to address long-running grievances with Korea and China who suffered from Japan's aggression in the early part of the 20th century.
Last month, Abe paid his respects at the Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class A war criminals.
Abe was the first Japanese prime minister to visit the shrine in more than seven years.
The move also drew rare opposition from Washington.
Regarding the matter, Abe said at the Davos forum that his visit to the war shrine in Tokyo has generated "major misunderstanding" among its neighbors, claiming he merely paid his respects to soldiers who fell fighting in Japanese wars.
He fell short of saying that he "regrets" or "will not be" making future visits to the contentious shrine.
"I had no intention whatsoever to hurt the feelings of people in China and Korea," he said at the gathering of world leaders.
Meanwhile, Japan has also been engaged in territorial disputes with Korea over the Seoul-controlled islets of Dokdo, and with China over islands in the South China Sea.
Tensions rose in November when Beijing unilaterally announced a new air defense zone that covered the disputed islands with Japan called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.
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