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The Japanese government has given instructions that sentences like, ¡°Japan has a dispute with Korea over Takeshima¡± -- the Japanese name for Korea¡¯s Dokdo islets -- in high-school textbooks for use next year must be changed to, "Korea claims ownership over Takeshima," thus turning the truth on its head. The instructions say it must be made explicit that the islets are properly Japanese territory."
When Korea and China confronted Japan over the habitual historical and political distortions in its textbooks, Tokyo until a few years ago said it could do little to interfere with textbooks, which are approved but not published by the state. There was at least a pretense of holding individual publishers responsible to that. Now Tokyo nakedly wrests the discretion from private publishers and bullies them into printing the government propaganda.
What is Japan hoping to achieve by implanting a fresh claim to territory it already tried to plunder 100 years ago in the minds of its people? Are they all meant to take to the streets when they grow up, demanding the return of Takeshima from the imperialists?
Already Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the martial Yasukuni Shrine have chilled Japan's relations with its neighbors to their lowest temperature in decades. But despite failing so spectacularly to gain the trust of its neighbors, Tokyo thinks it can push for a greater role in the international community. Northing could be more misguided.
We too, however, have to accept a share of the blame for Japan¡¯s swagger. Around this time last year, when the island country¡¯s Shimane Prefecture instituted a "Takeshima Day" even as the increasingly prominent right wing in Japan put out textbooks whitewashing the country¡¯s wartime atrocities, the president said, "We can no longer sit idle before fresh attempts at hegemony. They will be struck down one and all." You can almost hear Japan snicker at the presidential promise as it turns up the provocation over Dokdo again this year.
If a country is to rebuff another¡¯s designs on its territory, it must plumb for one of two options: rely on its own strength or, failing that, enlist the help of an ally capable of the job. That has been a basic principle of international politics for millennia. If you are merely bluffing, the other side will call your bluff.
For Korea to stand up to a country like Japan with an economy 10 times the size of ours is impossible without a powerful ally. The Korea-U.S. alliance that once sustained us and maintained stability when Seoul-Tokyo relations became brittle, has been shaken to the core in the three years the Roh administration has been in power. Tokyo knows that Seoul has maneuvered itself into a diplomatic corner: that is why it is acting so shamelessly in the Dokdo question.
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