:痛批日本外相

也许美国在日本曾经投下了两颗原子弹，说它是内疚也好，说它是罪恶感也好，它对日本和日本人向来总是客客气气的。像《纽约时报》这篇《令人厌恶的日本外相》社论，如此猛烈的抨击日本军国主义，铁证如山，理直气壮，旗帜鲜明，毕竟是少见的。<br/><br/>据悉，日本一位知名文艺评论家曾经忧心忡忡地指出，日本社会似乎愈是说狠话，愈是不妥协，愈具攻击性，就愈是受欢迎，愈是有市场，愈能吸引眼球。在这种政治风气下，面对政治权力和功名利益的巨大诱惑，日本外相越无礼越胡扯，政治价值也愈高了。但作为外相，而且又可能是日本未来首相人选之一，麻生理应具有基本的分寸和克己的。同时，他的言论代表日本外交策略和历史认知，到底日本新一代政治人物究竟想把邻国关系引向何处？<br/><br/>作为一个日本外相，麻生对外交领悟和对历史领悟竟然如此无知、如此漠然、如此抵赖，怪不得《纽约时报》说这个无礼的外相“难于理喻”了。<br/><br/>附：《令人厌恶的日本外相》<br/><br/>《纽约时报》社论<br/><br/>译者：刘伯松<br/><br/>“世界各国人民都希望能为自己国家每一页历史感到自豪。但诚实的人明白这是不可能的，而明智的人则意识到承认令人难堪的历史真相、并从中吸取教训的积极价值。然而，日本新外相麻生太郎做出一系列二战时期日本灾难性的军国主义、殖民主义和战争罪行的煽动性言论，既不诚实，也不明智。<br/><br/>“除了激怒日本需要结为盟友和贸易伙伴的邻国外，也伤害了他一直试图取悦的日本人。第二次世界大战在今天大多数日本人出生前早已结束了，然而，日本的公开舆论也好，学校现代史课程也吧，却从未适当地承担该国对可怕的历史事件所应当负起的责任，如大批绑架韩国年轻妇女并强迫她们做充当“慰安妇”性奴隶、在中国城市和手无寸铁战俘身上做生物战争试验、以及在南京残暴虐杀数十万中国平民的“南京大屠杀”事件。<br/><br/>“这就是为什么会有那么多亚洲人对去年秋天上任的外相发表一连串骇人听闻的言论而深感愤怒的原因。他最近两次让人愤怒的言论有：一，建议日本天皇应该参拜供有14名日本战犯、充满军国主义气氛的靖国神社；二，声称台湾教育程度高，应该归功于日本50年占领期间的开明政策。（1895年日本从中国掠夺了台湾作为战利品。）后来，麻生曾经软弱无力地试图澄清自己的话，却没能改变这些言论产生的恶劣效果。<br/><br/>“麻生还不厌其烦地在已经苦难重重的中日关系火上加油，把中国的长期军事建设说成是对日本“重大威胁”。中国近来并没有威胁日本的记录。这一点，除了日本以外的整个世界都知道，情况和麻生太郎所说的恰恰相反。由此，麻生太郎先生对外交领悟和他对历史领悟，一样令人诧异，难于理喻。”<br/><br/>Editorial<br/>Japan's Offensive Foreign Minister<br/><br/>Published: February 13, 2006<br/>People everywhere wish they could be proud of every bit of their countries' histories. But honest people understand that's impossible, and wise people appreciate the positive value of acknowledging and learning from painful truths about past misdeeds. Then there is Japan's new foreign minister, Taro Aso, who has been neither honest nor wise in the inflammatory statements he has been making about Japan's disastrous era of militarism, colonialism and war crimes that culminated in the Second World War.<br/><br/>Besides offending neighboring countries that Japan needs as allies and trading partners, he is disserving the people he has been pandering to. World War II ended before most of today's Japanese were born. Yet public discourse in Japan and modern history lessons in its schools have never properly come to terms with the country's responsibility for such terrible events as the mass kidnapping and sexual enslavement of Korean young women, the biological warfare experiments carried out on Chinese cities and helpless prisoners of war, and the sadistic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians in the city of Nanjing.<br/><br/>That is why so many Asians have been angered by a string of appalling remarks Mr. Aso has made since being named foreign minister last fall. Two of the most recent were his suggestion that Japan's emperor ought to visit the militaristic Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Japanese war criminals are among those honored, and his claim that Taiwan owes its high educational standards to enlightened Japanese policies during the 50-year occupation that began when Tokyo grabbed the island as war booty from China in 1895. Mr. Aso's later lame efforts to clarify his words left their effect unchanged.<br/><br/>Mr. Aso has also been going out of his way to inflame Japan's already difficult relations with Beijing by characterizing China's long-term military buildup as a "considerable threat" to Japan. China has no recent record of threatening Japan. As the rest of the world knows, it was the other way around. Mr. Aso's sense of diplomacy is as odd as his sense of history.<br/>也许美国在日本曾经投下了两颗原子弹，说它是内疚也好，说它是罪恶感也好，它对日本和日本人向来总是客客气气的。像《纽约时报》这篇《令人厌恶的日本外相》社论，如此猛烈的抨击日本军国主义，铁证如山，理直气壮，旗帜鲜明，毕竟是少见的。<br/><br/>据悉，日本一位知名文艺评论家曾经忧心忡忡地指出，日本社会似乎愈是说狠话，愈是不妥协，愈具攻击性，就愈是受欢迎，愈是有市场，愈能吸引眼球。在这种政治风气下，面对政治权力和功名利益的巨大诱惑，日本外相越无礼越胡扯，政治价值也愈高了。但作为外相，而且又可能是日本未来首相人选之一，麻生理应具有基本的分寸和克己的。同时，他的言论代表日本外交策略和历史认知，到底日本新一代政治人物究竟想把邻国关系引向何处？<br/><br/>作为一个日本外相，麻生对外交领悟和对历史领悟竟然如此无知、如此漠然、如此抵赖，怪不得《纽约时报》说这个无礼的外相“难于理喻”了。<br/><br/>附：《令人厌恶的日本外相》<br/><br/>《纽约时报》社论<br/><br/>译者：刘伯松<br/><br/>“世界各国人民都希望能为自己国家每一页历史感到自豪。但诚实的人明白这是不可能的，而明智的人则意识到承认令人难堪的历史真相、并从中吸取教训的积极价值。然而，日本新外相麻生太郎做出一系列二战时期日本灾难性的军国主义、殖民主义和战争罪行的煽动性言论，既不诚实，也不明智。<br/><br/>“除了激怒日本需要结为盟友和贸易伙伴的邻国外，也伤害了他一直试图取悦的日本人。第二次世界大战在今天大多数日本人出生前早已结束了，然而，日本的公开舆论也好，学校现代史课程也吧，却从未适当地承担该国对可怕的历史事件所应当负起的责任，如大批绑架韩国年轻妇女并强迫她们做充当“慰安妇”性奴隶、在中国城市和手无寸铁战俘身上做生物战争试验、以及在南京残暴虐杀数十万中国平民的“南京大屠杀”事件。<br/><br/>“这就是为什么会有那么多亚洲人对去年秋天上任的外相发表一连串骇人听闻的言论而深感愤怒的原因。他最近两次让人愤怒的言论有：一，建议日本天皇应该参拜供有14名日本战犯、充满军国主义气氛的靖国神社；二，声称台湾教育程度高，应该归功于日本50年占领期间的开明政策。（1895年日本从中国掠夺了台湾作为战利品。）后来，麻生曾经软弱无力地试图澄清自己的话，却没能改变这些言论产生的恶劣效果。<br/><br/>“麻生还不厌其烦地在已经苦难重重的中日关系火上加油，把中国的长期军事建设说成是对日本“重大威胁”。中国近来并没有威胁日本的记录。这一点，除了日本以外的整个世界都知道，情况和麻生太郎所说的恰恰相反。由此，麻生太郎先生对外交领悟和他对历史领悟，一样令人诧异，难于理喻。”<br/><br/>Editorial<br/>Japan's Offensive Foreign Minister<br/><br/>Published: February 13, 2006<br/>People everywhere wish they could be proud of every bit of their countries' histories. But honest people understand that's impossible, and wise people appreciate the positive value of acknowledging and learning from painful truths about past misdeeds. Then there is Japan's new foreign minister, Taro Aso, who has been neither honest nor wise in the inflammatory statements he has been making about Japan's disastrous era of militarism, colonialism and war crimes that culminated in the Second World War.<br/><br/>Besides offending neighboring countries that Japan needs as allies and trading partners, he is disserving the people he has been pandering to. World War II ended before most of today's Japanese were born. Yet public discourse in Japan and modern history lessons in its schools have never properly come to terms with the country's responsibility for such terrible events as the mass kidnapping and sexual enslavement of Korean young women, the biological warfare experiments carried out on Chinese cities and helpless prisoners of war, and the sadistic slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians in the city of Nanjing.<br/><br/>That is why so many Asians have been angered by a string of appalling remarks Mr. Aso has made since being named foreign minister last fall. Two of the most recent were his suggestion that Japan's emperor ought to visit the militaristic Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Japanese war criminals are among those honored, and his claim that Taiwan owes its high educational standards to enlightened Japanese policies during the 50-year occupation that began when Tokyo grabbed the island as war booty from China in 1895. Mr. Aso's later lame efforts to clarify his words left their effect unchanged.<br/><br/>Mr. Aso has also been going out of his way to inflame Japan's already difficult relations with Beijing by characterizing China's long-term military buildup as a "considerable threat" to Japan. China has no recent record of threatening Japan. As the rest of the world knows, it was the other way around. Mr. Aso's sense of diplomacy is as odd as his sense of history.<br/>