Japan must learn a lesson from Liutiaohu Incident -- Akahata editorial,
September 18

September 18, 2001 marks the 70th anniversary of the Liutiaohu Incident,
which Japan used as a pretext for launching the war of aggression in
Northeastern China, which later was escalated into a full-scale aggression
involving the whole of the Asia-Pacific region.

The incident was plotted by the Japanese Army by blowing up a railway
train at Liutiaohu near Shenyang, the capital city of Liaoning Province of
China.

It is regrettable that we have to observe the Liutiaohu Incident's 70th
anniversary amid a call to arms in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New
York and Washington. U.S. President George W. Bush has said, "This is the
first war in the 21st century."

Why was war outlawed?

A year after the Liutiaohu Incident, Japan established "Manchukuo" as its
puppet government. This came under criticism internationally and Japan found
itself isolated in the international community. Japan simply was going
against the international current toward outlawing war.

After experiencing mass destruction in WWI, the world's people in 1919
called for no more wars in the Covenant of the League of Nations and in 1928
agreed to prohibit war in general in the Treaty for the Renunciation of War.

Japan launched a war of aggression three years after it signed the Treaty
for the Renunciation of War.

Together with other incidents, this worked to push the world into WWII.
Japan's breaking of international law thus brought about grave consequences.

The Koizumi Cabinet supports a school textbook which glosses over Japan's
war of aggression by depicting the Liutiaohu Incident as the Japanese Army's
counterattack against the Chinese people's anti-Japanese movement. The
cabinet shows no reflection on the war of aggression. It is clear that such
an anachronistic position runs counter to the world current.

The United Nations Charter, which was established after WW II, prohibited
the use or threat to use force based on the lesson from the Japanese war of
aggression which was started with what was called the "Manchurian Incident"
or the "China Incident."

In the present-day international community, every nation must seek
solutions to international disputes by peaceful means, not by military
force.

This is a rule humanity established for the international community in
the 20th century based on the lessons drawn from the loss of tens of
millions of lives.

Japan in particular, as a country which started a war of aggression,
constitutionally prohibited itself from possessing "war potential" as an
expression of self-reflection, thus outlawing war.

The Koizumi Cabinet is promoting plans to support the use of force by
U.S. Forces based on the Guidelines for Japan-U.S. Defense Cooperation. This
move contradicts the historical lesson.

This is clear from the sequence of events that led Japan to war on the
rest of the world by regarding a military settlement of disputes as
reasonable and escalating war indefinitely.

Let law and reason prevail

People are now watching the world with anxious eyes to see what the 21st
century will be like.

Since the end of WW II, the international community has developed
international laws to ensure peace and security.

The international community should have the ability to settle and
overcome brutal terrorist attacks through law and reason, not through
retaliation by military force. This is the door which makes the 21st century
a century of peace, not war.

This is the lesson which Japan should learn from the terrible mistake it
made 70 years ago. (end)