By Matt Spetalnick and Chizu Nomiyama
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe expressed ?deep repentance? over Japan?s role in World War Two in a speech to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday, even as he declared Tokyo?s emergence as a global Security (SECURITY.8)player in the face of China?s rising power.
Using the high-profile platform to strike a note of measured contrition, 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 reforms to Japan's pacifist post-war constitution to make this possible.
Receiving a warm welcome reflecting Japan?s status as America?s staunchest Asian ally, Abe, the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint meeting of Congress, sent a stern message to China, which is locked in maritime disputes with Tokyo and other Asian neighbours.
Though Abe did not mention Beijing by name, he spoke of the "state of Asian waters,? saying countries must negotiate differences and not ?use force or coercion to drive their claims.?
Abe's speech to Congress was a moment symbolic of the reconciliation between former World Two enemies who are now the closest of allies. He spoke in slow, deliberate English and was interrupted frequently by applause and standing ovations.
Abe gave his address 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, was under close scrutiny for how he chose to handle history in his speech.
The issue remains a sensitive one for Asian neighbours, especially China and U.S. ally South Korea, nearly 70 years after Japan?s defeat.
CRITICS WANTED NEW APOLOGY
Some American critics, including politicians and war veterans, had urged Abe to make a strong expression of contrition about World War Two aggression to erase concerns that he is trying to dilute past official statements. But his conservative domestic allies feel fresh apologies are unneeded.
Abe did in fact offer new twist 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.
"Our actions brought suffering to the peoples in Asian countries," he said. "We must not avert our eyes from that."
Abe made no mention of ?comfort women,? the Japanese euphemism for thousands of Korean and other Asian women forced into prostitution at Japanese military brothels in World War Two. But in a possible oblique reference, he said ?armed conflicts have always made women suffer the most.?
An 86-year-old "comfort woman" survivor, Yong Soo Lee, attended in the visitors' gallery at the invitation of Congressman Mike Honda.
Abe created a poignant moment when he when pointed out retired Lt. Gen. Lawrence Snowden, who led a U.S. company in the battle of Iwo Jima, and Japanese lawmaker Yoshitaka Shindo, whose grandfather commanded the Japanese garrison there. The two men stood and shook hands.
Abe also faced the challenge of selling lawmakers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) as U.S. and Japanese negotiators struggle to finalise terms of a bilateral deal essential to a 12-nation pact that would cover one-third of global trade.
"The goal is near," Abe said. "Let us bring the TPP to a successful conclusion through our joint leadership."
Obama hopes Abe?s visit will help him build momentum on his trade agenda, though many of his fellow Democrats oppose it.
Abe, whose cabinet has backed a reinterpretation of Japan's constitution to allow it to aid the United States and other allies under attack, said he expects the historic reforms to be enacted by this summer.
Japan's military is already considering joining the United States in maritime air patrols in the South China Sea in response to China's increasingly assertiveness there, Japanese and U.S. sources familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom, Nathan Layne, Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Leslie Adler, Jeffrey Benkoe, Toni Reinhold)
