By Matt Spetalnick and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday expressed ?deep repentance? over Japan?s role in World War Two, even as he declared Tokyo?s emergence as a global Security (SECURITY.8)player in the face of China?s rising power in Asia.
Using the high-profile platform of a landmark speech to the U.S. Congress, Abe insisted that Japan must not avert its eyes from the suffering of Asian peoples from its wartime behaviour but he stopped short of issuing his own apology, instead upholding statements by his predecessors.
With Abe?s comments on Japan?s war record unlikely to satisfy critics who had demanded he go further, the conservative premier chose to focus more on the future of the U.S.-Japan military alliance and press sceptical lawmakers to back a long-delayed Pacific free-trade pact.
?We now hold high a new banner that is a?proactive contribution to peace based on the principle of international cooperation,?? Abe said a day after he and President Barack Obama cemented new guidelines for Japan?s military to support U.S. forces beyond its waters. He has proposed changes to Japan's pacifist post-war constitution to make this possible.
Receiving a warm welcome from lawmakers reflecting Japan?s status as America?s staunchest Asian ally, Abe, the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, used his speech to send a stern message to China, which is locked in maritime disputes with Japan and other Asian neighbours.
Referring to the ?state of Asian waters,? Abe called for adherence to principles of peaceful negotiation, saying countries must not ?use force or coercion to drive their claims.?
Abe's speech to Congress was a moment deeply symbolic of the reconciliation between former World Two enemies who are now the closest of allies.
Abe spoke from the spot where President Franklin Roosevelt asked for a declaration of war against Imperial Japan after the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbour in Hawaii. The speech also coincided with Japan?s national holiday marking the birthday of its wartime emperor, Hirohito.
Abe, who has sought to cast Japan?s aggressive World War Two-era conduct with a less apologetic tone, can expect intense scrutiny of his speech for how he handles history.
The issue remains a sensitive one for Asian neighbours, especially China and U.S. ally South Korea, nearly 70 years after Japan?s defeat.
Some American critics, including politicians and war veterans, had urged Abe to use the speech to make a strong public expression of contrition about World War Two to erase concerns that he is trying to dilute past official statements of remorse by Japanese leaders.
Abe did in fact offer new twist to his previous remarks when he spoke of his deeply symbolic visit to Washington?s World War Two memorial earlier on Wednesday, saying: ?With deep repentance in my heart, I stood there in silent prayers for some time.?
But he stuck mostly to his past rhetoric, expressing ?deep remorse? for Japan?s wartime conduct and saying he upheld previous Japanese apologies, including a 1995 landmark statement by then-premier Tomiichi Murayama.
Abe made no mention of ?comfort women,? the Japanese euphemism for the thousands of Korean and other Asian women forced into prostitution at Japanese military brothels before and during World War Two.
But he made an oblique reference to the controversial issue, saying ?armed conflicts have always made women suffer the most.?
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jeffrey Benkoe)
