Perspective Historical Disputes and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia: The US Role

Abstract

Over the last two decades Northeast Asia has witnessed growing intra-regional interactions, especially in the realms of culture and economy. Yet wounds from past wrongs, committed during colonialism and war, are not fully healed and the question of history has become heated across Northeast Asia. In a 2006 survey, Chinese respondents listed the top four reasons for unfavourable views of Japan as related to history issues, led by the Nanjing massacre (42 percent). A similar survey of Koreans conducted in 2005 found that 93 percent felt unresolved historical issues are important to Korea-Japan relations/' East Asians have recognized the need for reconciliation and sought to achieve that goal through various tactics: apology politics, litigation, joint history writing and regional exchanges. While each approach has its own merits, none has succeeded. Despite Japan's efforts to apologize for its past, its neighbours continue to view the Japanese as insincere and remain skeptical of formulaic apologies. Almost all lawsuits that Asian victims have filed in Japanese courts have been either thrown out or left unresolved. Japan, China and Korea have yet to agree on a shared view of their past from joint history writing. And all nations, sharing a reluctance to fully confront the complexity of that past, tend to blame others.