Note to Abbott: don't mention the war
Posted
The Prime Minister's comments in praise
of Japanese soldiers during World War II have angered China. This isn't
just shaky diplomacy - it's also poor history, writes Kerry Brown.
Whileof Japanese soldiers during World War II have angered China. This isn't
just shaky diplomacy - it's also poor history, writes Kerry Brown.
the one golden rule of diplomacy is that there are no golden rules, a
pretty good rule of thumb is that when engaging with other countries,
you become involved in their internal affairs at your peril, and only
when you have to.
War, internal instability with international
ramifications, flagrant government abuses - all these, when the evidence
is there, are valid things to express a view on. But when two countries
like Japan and China are having a long-term, highly acrimonious spat
that partly involves the present (disputed maritime borders) and partly
involves the past (World War II), it best for countries like Australia
to steer as far clear as possible of the latter. Being dragged in on one
side or another, particularly on historic issues, is usually a losing
wicket.
Tony Abbott may learn this the hard way after he made
comments during prime minister Shinzo Abe's visit to Australia which
seemed to praise Japan's World War II soldiers.
Abe's visit has
seen the signing of a significant free trade deal, and the cementing of a
stronger bilateral relationship with a country which is, after all,
Australia's second largest economic partner, and one which is emerging
into healthier growth and offering stronger potential for co-operation.
This should have been more than enough to celebrate during the visit,
particularly in view of Abbott's chagrin late last year when his comment
about Japan being Australia's biggest friend in Asia went down so badly
in Beijing.
The relationship with China is a tricky one. Foreign
Minister Julie Bishop spoke this week about the need to assert our
values and not just focus on the money when we deal with Beijing. At the
same time former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton seemed to
criticise what she saw as Australia's slavish attitude to China in an
interview promoting her recent book.
The current strategy in
Canberra however seems sensible enough: diversify, seek friends wherever
you can, build the core economic links, and have these as the main
thrust of what you are doing. But as Abbott's remarks to Abe make clear,
underlying all of this is a very emotional commitment by current
Australian leaders to being as visibly faithful and strongly connected
to the US, and older allies like Japan, as possible. This urge seems to
be pushing Abbott into making unnecessarily forceful remarks about
issues that he need not express any opinion on.
The residue of
ill-feeling about World War II stains Japan's relations across the
region. It is not just China that has an issue with some of Abe's
statements, and his moves to review judgements made in the past about
the issue of comfort women. However well this might play domestically
(and many in Japan don't agree with his more assertive stance on these
issues), it is not just China that has responded angrily. South Korea in
particular has issued statements expressing worry and dissent.
Japanese
inability to deal with the past is an ongoing issue. And expressing any
opinion on something so raw and alive today is hazardous.
The
point is that it is not just shaky diplomacy that Abbott is practicing
when he opines on these things - it is also poor history.
Oxford
Professor Rana Mitter's superb study China's War with Japan, issued last
year, sets out eloquently and authoritatively just why many in China
now might still have strong feelings about this history. Twenty million
of their compatriots died in this struggle, and large parts of the
country were decimated. Fifty million were made homeless. Cities like
Shanghai became bloody war fronts, with terrible human suffering. The
pitting of a modernised, industrial nation against one still largely
rural and undeveloped was, Mitter argues, something that almost
fundamentally destroyed China. It only just survived as a country.
Mitter's
book makes one more salient point that Mr Abbott might pay attention to
before he speaks up about this matter in the future. China was our ally
in that conflict, and its battle fronts were ones that were crucially
important for the global struggle against fascism. Australians fought in
those battles and made heroic sacrifices.
This is too often
forgotten. At that time, it was Japan that posed the threat, managing to
attack as far south as Darwin. Praising the Japanese war effort
therefore doesn't just cause offence in China - it denigrates
Australia's own history.
It is great that Japan is now a strong
ally - as a democracy, a liberal trading partner, and a supporter of the
international systems of norms and regulations. Building a good
relationship between Australia and Japan is logical, and utterly
defensible.
These are the things that will matter most, rather
than ad hominem views on arguments between two important countries that
Australia has no reason to get involved in. That is the reason why it is
unlikely we will hear current US secretary of state John Kerry make
comments like these in his tour through the region this week. It is not
necessary and it does not help.
Professor Kerry Brown is
executive director of the China Studies Centre and Professor of Chinese
Politics at the University of Sydney. View his full profile here.
Topics:
world-politics,
world-war-2,
unrest-conflict-and-war
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