英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 5
EDITORIAL: Abe government's 'inward-looking' diplomacy serves no purpose
（社説）外務省ＨＰ　外交が内向きすぎる

The Foreign Ministry on Sept. 18 updated the “History Issues Q&A” section on its Japanese website. The timing suggests that the ministry intentionally held off the update to coincide with the passage of new national security legislation that allows Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense.
　集団的自衛権の行使を可能にする安全保障関連法の成立を待っていたかのように、外務省のホームページ（ＨＰ）にある「歴史問題Ｑ＆Ａ」の内容が更新された。

Gone from the updated Q&A is any mention of Japan’s “colonial rule and aggression” against its Asian neighbors. And the streamlined content only provides URL links to the (Tomiichi) Murayama statement and the (Junichiro) Koizumi statement that acknowledged Japan’s colonialism and aggression.
　以前は掲載されていたアジア諸国への「植民地支配と侵略」という言及がなくなり、それらを認めた「村山談話」や「小泉談話」などのリンク先を紹介するだけに簡ログイン前の続き略化された。

On Aug. 14, the day Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued his statement for the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Q&A section was abruptly deleted from the ministry’s website. After questions were raised in the Diet about the deletion, the website ran a notice to the effect that the content was being revised to reflect the Abe statement.
　それに先立ち、「Ｑ＆Ａ」は、戦後７０年の「安倍談話」が出された８月１４日に突然、削除されていた。国会で質問されると、「（安倍）談話を踏まえ、現在改訂中です」と表示した。

But why did the revision take more than a month? It is only natural to assume that the ministry decided to delay the revision to avoid any negative impact on Diet deliberations on the contentious security legislation.
　削除から１カ月以上たってからの改訂は、安保関連法の審議に悪影響を与えまいとの配慮が働いたためではないか。そう見られても仕方あるまい。

“Japan has repeatedly expressed the feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology for its actions during the war,” Abe’s 70th anniversary statement said, even though Abe never made it clear if he himself felt such remorse. And he went on, “Such a position articulated by the previous Cabinets will remain unshakable into the future.”
　安倍首相は談話で、自分がそう考えているとは明言しなかったものの、「わが国は先の大戦における行いについて、繰り返し、痛切な反省と心からのお詫（わ）びの気持ちを表明してきた」とし、「歴代内閣の立場は今後も揺るぎない」と訴えた。

But the fact that the Foreign Ministry immediately deleted the symbolic expression “colonial rule and aggression” from its website would only suggest that the Abe administration’s perception of history is not what it was made to appear in the prime minister’s 70th anniversary statement.
　にもかかわらず、談話が出されるや即座に外務省ＨＰから「植民地支配と侵略」という象徴的な記述がなくなったとなれば、安倍政権の歴史認識に揺らぎを感じざるをえない。

Something similar occurred on the Foreign Ministry website last year.
　外務省ＨＰでは昨年も似たような問題があった。

At that time, the ministry abruptly deleted a document calling for contributions to the Asian Women’s Fund that was set up to represent Japan’s national effort to compensate Asia’s wartime “comfort women.”
　日本が慰安婦問題で国民的な償いを試みた「女性のためのアジア平和国民基金（アジア女性基金）」への参加を呼びかけた文書が急に削除されたのだ。

The Japanese government always used to bring up the Asian Women’s Fund as proof of its sincerity in dealing with the comfort women issue. By deleting the document, the Foreign Ministry effectively undermined the government’s position, instead of playing it up.
　基金は、これまで慰安婦問題で日本も努力してきたと主張する根拠となっている。だが、それを強調するどころか自らの手で見えにくくしてしまった。

The national security legislation, which Abe insists is “necessary for protecting Japanese peoples’ lives and the peaceful life of Japanese citizens,” was promulgated on Sept. 30. But the fears of this law’s opponents have not gone away at all. They are deeply apprehensive, not only of the law itself, but also of the likelihood of a substantive change in Japan’s postwar pacifism because the prime minister did not use the “I” in expressing the nation’s deep remorse for and heartfelt apology for its past history of aggression.
　首相が「国民の命と平和な暮らしを守り抜くために必要」と訴えた安保法は先週公布された。だが、その法制に反対する国民は不安を抱いたままだ。法の中身だけでなく、過去の侵略や、おわびの意思を自分の主体的な見解として明言しない首相によって、日本の戦後平和主義は変質してしまうのではないかとの危惧もあるのではないか。

Defensive capabilities alone cannot protect the nation’s security. Constant diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the international community, of which Japan is a member, are indispensable. So long as Japanese diplomacy remains thoroughly inward-looking, it will serve no purpose.
　国の安全を守るのは防衛力だけではない。不断の外交努力によって日本を取り巻く国際社会の緊張をやわらげることが不可欠だ。そのための外交が内向きに終始しては話にならない。

Before Abe, the Japanese government always reassured the Japanese people and neighboring nations by trying to face the past squarely and admitting mistakes made in the past.
　日本はこれまで、過去と向き合い、過ちを認めることで国民と近隣国に安心感を与えてきた。

Humility about history is what is obviously lacking in the Abe administration that overstresses recent changes in Japan’s security environment.
最近の安保環境の変化を強調する政権に今、足りないのは歴史への謙虚さではないか。