China’s Xi Jinping takes dispute with Japan to Germany
25 Feb 2014 11:37 PM GMT
China has increasingly contrasted Germany and its public contrition for the Nazi regime to Japan, where repeated official apologies for wartime suffering are sometimes undercut by contradictory comments by conservative politicians.
Ties between the two Asian rivals worsened when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on 26 December, which China sees as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism because it honours wartime leaders along with millions of war dead.
Xi will visit Germany in late March, as well as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, Beijing-based diplomats said. China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Xi’s agenda as the trip has yet to be formally announced.
‘China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germany and Germany is not happy,’ said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China’s plans for the Xi trip.
The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sources said Germany did not want to get dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes China constantly bringing up Germany’s painful past.
A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When that was immediately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin’s Neue Wache Memorial, which honours war dead but not recognised war criminals.
‘The Holocaust is a no-go area,’ the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.
Germany does not want the negative legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objection to the Holocaust Memorial visit.
China wanted German officials to go to Japan and tell them how to cope with history, the source added.
PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE
It is not clear exactly what Xi wants to say about the war while in Germany, which has strong commercial links with China, but Chinese leaders have mentioned the subject in recent visits to Europe.
Ties between the two Asian rivals worsened when Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine on 26 December, which China sees as a symbol of Tokyo’s past militarism because it honours wartime leaders along with millions of war dead.
Xi will visit Germany in late March, as well as France, the Netherlands and Belgium, Beijing-based diplomats said. China’s Foreign Ministry declined to comment on Xi’s agenda as the trip has yet to be formally announced.
‘China wants a strong focus on World War Two when Xi visits Germany and Germany is not happy,’ said one diplomatic source who has been briefed on China’s plans for the Xi trip.
The German government declined to comment. But the diplomatic sources said Germany did not want to get dragged into the dispute between China and Japan, and dislikes China constantly bringing up Germany’s painful past.
A second diplomatic source with knowledge of the trip said China had proposed Xi visit the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin. When that was immediately rejected by Germany, Beijing suggested Xi go to Berlin’s Neue Wache Memorial, which honours war dead but not recognised war criminals.
‘The Holocaust is a no-go area,’ the source said, adding it was unclear if the Neue Wache Memorial visit would go ahead.
Germany does not want the negative legacy of the war to dominate or take centre stage during a state visit, the source added, explaining the objection to the Holocaust Memorial visit.
China wanted German officials to go to Japan and tell them how to cope with history, the source added.
PROPAGANDA OFFENSIVE
It is not clear exactly what Xi wants to say about the war while in Germany, which has strong commercial links with China, but Chinese leaders have mentioned the subject in recent visits to Europe.
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