Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Address the Japanese Diet

Chinese PM Wen Jiabao today had the landmark opportunity to address the Japanese Diet during his trip to Japan which he has labeled a trip to ‘thaw the ice’ that is Sino-Japanese relations.

The BBC focuses on him calling for Japan to match it’s verbal apologies with actions.

In what was the first ever Diet address by a Chinese premier, he said Japan’s invasions in the 1930s and 40s had caused China’s people tremendous pain.
And he called for Japanese apologies to be matched by concrete actions.
However, he said just a few militarist leaders were to blame and that most Japanese people were also war victims.

The Asahi [archive] is giving the most attention to those comments, but also talks more about the other issues discussed than the BBC does. (Brief summery in italics.)

　中国の江沢民前国家主席は、いわゆる歴史問題について「永遠に語らなくてはならない」と主張してきたが、今回の温首相の演説は、現在の中国指導部が、歴史問題を前面に掲げた前指導部とは一線を画していることを印象づけた。

He says that the ‘history problem’ is something that “must be discussed eternally”.

温首相は「侵略戦争は中国人民の心に言葉では言い表せないほどの傷と苦痛を与え、日本国民にも甚大な苦難と痛みを与えた」と述べる一方、「日本政府と日本の指導者は何度も態度を表明し、被害国に深い反省とおわびを表明した」と指摘した。

“Japan’s aggressive war has left pain and scaring on the Chinese people so great that they can not be described by words. It also caused much pain and suffering for the Japanese people.” “The Japanese government and leaders have shown their regret and deeply apologized to the victimized countries many times over.”

ただ、日本側に「態度の表明と約束を実際の行動」で示すよう求めた。具体的には述べなかったものの、靖国神社参拝問題などで日本側にクギを刺した形だ。

He called for Japan to take physical action and promises to match it’s regret and apologies. This is being taken to mean ‘no-Yasukuni’.

The Asahi also mentions how China agrees to work with Japan to solve the issues of North Korea, requests Japan’s support on suppressing any movements towards Taiwanese Independence, and his hopes for cooperation and peace on the issue of the gas fields in the East Chinese Sea.

The Yomiuri [archive] included all the same as the Asahi article, but had something of interest about at the very end of the article that wasn’t to be found in the Asahi or BBC articles.

これまでの日本の経済協力などについては、「中国の改革開放と近代化建設は日本政府と国民から支持と支援をいただいた。中国人民は、いつまでも忘れない」と謝意を述べた。

He expressed gratitude to Japan saying, “The Chinese will never forget the support and financial backing of the Japanese government and people that have given towards China’s opening reforms and modernization.”

I was personally somewhat surprised and somewhat disappointed that Wen used this rare opportunity to address the Japanese Diet to talk about the issues that he has used as a reason not to even meet with them until now. But at the same time it wasn’t like when Chavez address the UN either; he made sure everyone knew he knew Japan has apologized many times over, and has also paid out over 3 Trillion Yen in ODA loans (which Japan regards as compensation, while China considers it unrelated large sums of free money), without which China wouldn’t be what it is today. I just wish he would share that information with his people so they stop going around saying that Japanese never once apologized or paid any form of compensation. I just don’t think it was fitting to criticize Japan on a trip which you labeled as a trip to increase relations with Japan — seems rather counter-productive.

But I’m more surprised that the BBC and Asahi left that last part out — particularly Asahi because they have a deal with China to be nice (don’t say anything/too much bad about China while emphasizing the good) in exchange for being Chinese media’s official source of news from Japan. We’ll have to wait and see how the NYT and other English media sources handle this until tomorrow, when Asahi and Yomiuri update their English pages.