Australia's Reponse: "Comprehensive" but "More Personal & Not Representative"
DATE=8/15/95
INTRO: AUSTRALIA'S PRIME MINISTER PAUL KEATING HAS DESCRIBED AS COMPREHENSIVE, THE APOLOGY BY JAPAN'S PRIME MINISTER TOMIICHI MURAYAMA FOR ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY JAPAN DURING WORLD WAR TWO. HOWEVER, AUSTRALIAN VETERANS OF THE WAR HAVE CALLED MR. MURAYAMA'S STATEMENT INADEQUATE. WE HEAR MORE IN THIS REPORT FROM ROBIN POKE IN CANBERRA.
TEXT: MR. KEATING SAYS MR. MURAYAMA'S EXPRESSIONS OF REGRET REPRESENT A 'QUITE COMPREHENSIVE' APOLOGY, AND SHOULD SATISFY MOST OF JAPAN'S WAR-TIME OPPONENTS. HE SAID IT WAS A POWERFUL STATEMENT, WHICH RECOGNIZED THAT JAPAN'S WARTIME POLICIES WERE A MISTAKE, AND THAT JAPAN WANTED TO EMBRACE THE PRINCIPLES OF PEACE AND PROSPERITY.
HOWEVER, AUSTRALIA'S FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER GARETH EVANS INTERPRETED THE JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER'S REMARKS AS MORE PERSONAL, AND NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE ENTIRE NATION.
SIMILAR SENTIMENTS WERE EXPRESSED BY THE PRESIDENT OF AUSTRALIA'S LEADING EX-SERVICEMEN'S ASSOCIATION, MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM JAMES. GENERAL JAMES WELCOMED WHAT HE CALLED MR. MURAYAMA'S 'COURAGEOUS' APOLOGY, BUT SAID IT WAS NOT ENOUGH. HE SAID IT WAS FROM JAPAN'S LEADER ALONE, NOT JAPAN'S PARLIAMENT, THE DIET, WHICH HAD NOT FULLY SUPPORTED MR. MURAYAMA'S WISH TO ATONE FOR HIS COUNTRY'S WAR-TIME DEEDS.
GENERAL JAMES ALSO SAID JAPAN SHOULD COME TO TERMS WITH ITS PAST, AND ACCURATELY RECORD ITS WAR-TIME RECORD, OTHERWISE FUTURE GENERATIONS OF JAPANESE WOULD NEVER UNDERSTAND CONTINUED INTERNATIONAL MISTRUST. HE SAID THAT IN HONOR OF THOSE WHO DIED AT THE HANDS OF THE JAPANESE, AUSTRALIA SHOULD NOT REST UNTIL ALL OF JAPAN GENUINELY ACCEPTS THE SENTIMENTS EXPRESSED BY MR. MURAYAMA.THE REMARKS BY GENERAL JAMES WERE ECHOED IN LONDON BY BRITISH WAR VETERANS HELD PRISONER BY JAPAN DURING THE WAR. THEY ACCUSED THE TOKYO GOVERNMENT OF PRESENTING A MAKESHIFT APOLOGY FOR JAPAN'S WAR-TIME ACTIONS, AND SAID THEIR STRUGGLE FOR FINANCIAL COMPENSATION WOULD CONTINUE.
15-Aug-95 8:19 AM EDT (1219 UTC) Voice of America
British Veterans Accuse Murayama "Fudging the Issue by Making the Apology a Personal One"
INTRO: THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT HAS WELCOMED A STATEMENT FROM JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER TOMIICHI MURAYAMA APOLOGIZING FOR HIS COUNTRY'S CONDUCT DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. BUT BRITISH VETERANS ASSOCIATIONS ACCUSE MR. MURAYAMA OF FUDGING (CLOUDING) THE ISSUE BY MAKING THE APOLOGY A PERSONAL ONE AND NOT ON BEHALF OF THE JAPANESE NATION. FROM LONDON, V-O-A'S CHRISTINE FURNELL HAS A REPORT.
TEXT: BRITISH VETERANS ASSOCIATIONS ARE ANGERED OVER JAPAN'S APPARENT INDECISION ON WHETHER A LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER JOHN MAJOR, FROM HIS JAPANESE COUNTERPART, INCLUDED AN APOLOGY FOR JAPANESE ATROCITIES DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR.
THE ISSUE WAS FURTHER EXACERBATED TUESDAY BY MR. MURAYAMA'S STATEMENT IN WHICH HE OFFERED AN APOLOGY -- BUT IT WAS A PERSONAL APOLOGY, NOT ONE ON BEHALF OF HIS GOVERNMENT OR THE JAPANESE PEOPLE.
BUT BILL HOLTHAN, CHAIRMAN OF THE JAPANESE LABOR CAMP SURVIVORS ASSOCIATION SAYS AN APOLOGY ALONE WILL NOT, HOWEVER, BRING THE MATTER TO A CLOSE.
"IF IT AN APOLOGY ACCOMPANIED BY REPARATION, THEN THAT WOULD BE AN END TO THE MATTER, IF IT ISN'T, THEN WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT BECAUSE WE ARE SUING THE JAPANESE FOR GROSS VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL THE UNITED NATIONS ABOUT THE ATROCITIES, THEY KNOW ALL ABOUT IT THE WHOLE WORLD KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT AND IN THAT CASE, WE WILL ENDEAVOR TO TRY AND GET THE UNITED NATIONS TO CITE JAPAN AS BEING GUILTY OF GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, THEN PERHAPS THIS WILL BE CONSIDERED THE NEXT TIME THEY APPLY TO GET ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY WANT. AS FAR AS WE SAY, THEY ARE NOT FIT TO GOVERN THIS WORLD, NOT UNTIL THEY WIPE THIS SLATE CLEAN."
LAST MONTH A GROUP OF VETERANS FROM BRITAIN REPRESENTING THE THOUSANDS OF SURVIVORS FROM JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS APPEARED IN A TOKYO COURT TO SEEK REPARATIONS FROM THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT.
MR. HOLTHAN SAYS THE VETERANS ARE ASKING FOR 20-THOUSAND DOLLARS EACH. THIS IS IN LINE WITH WAR REPARATIONS PAID TO JAPANESE CAPTURED BY THE ALLIES.
THE TOKYO GOVERNMENT, HOWEVER, INSISTS THAT ALL WAR COMPENSATION ISSUES WERE SETTLED BY POSTWAR TREATIES. BUT MR. HOLTHAN SAYS IF THE COURT CASE IN JAPAN IS SUCCESSFUL, AND COMPENSATION IS FINALLY PAID, ONLY THEN WILL THE VETERANS BE SATISFIED.
15-Aug-95 10:43 AM EDT (1443 UTC)
Source: Voice of America