From Yomiuri online, Prime Minister Abe stated in
the January 31 plenary session of the House of Representatives that the Kohno
Statement regarding the comfort women issue that it “should not be made into a
political issue, a diplomatic issue.” He went on to state that it “was issued
by [Taro] Kohno, the chief cabinet secretary at the time, and it is appropriate
that I as prime minister refrain from saying anything more about this matter
and that it be taken care of by Chief Cabinet Secretary ([Yoshihide] Suga). Later
in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga stated in his regular press conference
that “it is desirable to have [the matter considered] from an academic
perspective.”
Unsurprising, I’m sure, at least to Yoshi
Kawasaki (see here,
at 00:54:44 for his broader take on Abeplomacy) and anyone else who has actually
been following the action instead of jumping all over context-deficient comments
that reinforce ones preconceptions. Kawasaki hedges his views on Abeplomacy with
the all-too-convenient “at least until the House of Councillors election in
July” caveat, but I’ll put ten of my dollars against one of anyone’s that an
honest and thoroughgoing academic undertaking and any comments—forward-looking,
according to an earlier Abe comment—by the
chief cabinet secretary at its conclusion will leave committed advocates on
both sides (or rather, ends, since it sometimes feels as if there were no
middle ground, where I put forward my own conjecture a few years ago) highly disappointed.
3 comments:
I too tend to feel that Abe will not act on the Kono and Murayama statements after the HoC election, although I am not confident. However, the process is important. Will the "academic" process be a real one with apolitical figures involved, or will it be one like his collective self-defense committee in Abe 1.0 which while "academic" was clearly going to tell Abe what he wanted to hear due to personnel selection.
Could you give a link to your past conjecture on the comfort women issue? I tried googling for them but couldn't find them.
I think your bet is a good one. Given all his talk about the economy, the last thing Abe wants is South Korean boycotts of Japanese goods as a trade off for pleasing the narrow segment of the Japanese population (in my understanding) that resents the Statement.
It was Yohei Kono, not Taro, by the way.
Post a Comment