國際時事:未參拜靖國神社的安倍

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, sent an offering to a controversial war shrine but refrained from visiting himself, in a calibrated attempt to keep tense relations with China on an even keel.

日本首相安倍晉三(Shinzo Abe)向有爭議的靖國神社(Yasukuni shrine)奉獻了祭祀費，但沒有登門參拜，這是一個經過精心盤算的企圖，目的是防止本已緊張的對華關係出現激化。

In a ceremony to mark the 68th anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of the second world war on Thursday, he said Japan would “engrave deeply in our hearts the lessons that we should learn” from conflict. However, he did not explicitly mention Japan's wartime aggression as has become customary on such occasions, and he skipped a formulaic pledge that Japan would never again go to war.

週四，在紀念第二次世界大戰結束，日本投降68週年的儀式上，安倍晉三表示，日本將“謙遜地面對歷史，牢記應該汲取的教訓”。不過，他沒有循例提及日本在戰時給別國帶來的傷害與痛苦，也沒有重複日本永不再戰的誓言。

The prime minister has been critical of what Japanese conservatives contemptuously describe as Japan's “apology diplomacy”. He has argued that Tokyo should take more responsibility for its own defence, particularly in light of Beijing's increasingly muscular regional diplomacy.

對於被日本保守派貶稱爲日本“道歉外交”的政策，安倍晉三一貫持批評態度。他主張，日本政府應當承擔更大的國防責任，尤其是在中國開展日漸強悍的地區外交的情況下。

Mr Abe, who has described his regret at not visiting the Yasukuni shrine when he was prime minister in 2006-07, had been urged by advisers not to make the pilgrimage. August 15, the date which marked the end of the second world war in 1945, is considered the most highly charged day in a region still haunted by history.

曾表示對2006-07年擔任首相期間未曾參拜靖國神社感到遺憾的安倍晉三，這一次，他的顧問們強烈建議他不要參拜。8月15日作爲1945年二戰結束的紀念日，在仍對歷史耿耿於懷的亞洲各國被視爲最敏感的日期。

Two cabinet ministers visited the shrine on Thursday, but other senior members of the government including Taro Aso, finance minister, who went in April, were expected to stay away.

兩名內閣部長級官員週四參拜了靖國神社，但其他政府高官，包括曾在4月份參拜靖國神社的財務大臣麻生太郎(Taro Aso)，預計都不會參拜。

Yasukuni, a Shinto shrine in central Tokyo, is considered a symbol of Japanese militarism by Japan's neighbours in northeast Asia. It contains the “souls”, though not the remains, of roughly 2.5m soldiers who died in various wars, including 14 wartime leaders convicted as Class-A war criminals by the Tokyo War Tribunal.

位於東京市中心的靖國神社，被日本在東北亞的鄰國視爲日本軍國主義的一個象徵。這個神社供奉着在歷次戰爭中陣亡的大約250萬軍人的“亡靈”（儘管沒有遺骸），包括當年被遠東國際軍事法庭判爲甲級戰犯的14名戰時領導人。

Because of fears of upsetting China, no Japanese prime minister has visited Yasukuni since Junichiro Koizumi in 2006. Mr Abe, however, has expressed frustration at being unable to pay his respects to Japan's war dead at a shrine he considers to be the equivalent of Arlington National Cemetery, where US war dead are commemorated. Japan's neighbours liken Japanese leaders' visits to Yasukuni to laying a wreath at the tomb of Adolf Hitler.

由於擔心惹惱中國，自小泉純一郎(Junichiro Koizumi)在2006年參拜靖國神社之後，歷屆日本首相都沒有參拜。不過，安倍曾對不能悼念日本的戰死者表示鬱悶，在他看來，靖國神社相當於美國的阿靈頓國家公墓(Arlington National Cemetery)；美國在那裏紀念陣亡的軍人。日本的鄰國則把日本領導人蔘拜靖國神社比喻爲向阿道夫•希特勒(Adolf Hitler)的墓敬獻花圈。

“Consoling the souls of the war dead is a purely domestic issue,” Keiji Furuya, one of the cabinet ministers to visit on Thursday, told reporters. “It should not be something to be criticised or interfered with by foreign countries.”

週四參拜靖國神社的兩名內閣部長級官員之一古屋圭司(Keiji Furuya)對記者表示，“以何種形式悼念陣亡者是日本的國內問題，不應受到其他國家的指指點點。”

Chinese leaders are likely to be pleased their pressure has dissuaded Mr Abe from visiting, though Xinhua news agency said that the cabinet ministers' pilgrimage to the “notorious” shrine would fuel mistrust. Beijing later summoned the Japanese ambassador to register a protest over the shrine visits by the ministers.

中國領導人很可能感到滿意，因爲他們的壓力迫使安倍晉三放棄參拜，儘管新華社表示，內閣成員參拜“臭名昭著的”靖國神社將加劇不信任。隨後，中國方面緊急召見日本駐華大使，就日本政府內閣成員參拜靖國神社表示強烈抗議。

Mr Abe has never promised Beijing he would not visit the shrine, but has maintained an ambiguity intended to be used as a bargaining chip. Tokyo has been seeking to restart high-level contacts with Beijing, which have broken down because of a dispute over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands, known as Diaoyu by China.

安倍晉三從未向北京方面承諾他不會參拜靖國神社，而是保持一定程度的模糊，將其用作談判籌碼。近期日方一直在尋求重啓日中高層接觸；自兩國圍繞日本管轄的尖閣諸島(Senkaku Islands)——中國稱爲釣魚島及其附屬島嶼——發生爭端以來，日中高層接觸一直處於中斷狀態。

Yoichi Funabashi, chairman of the Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation, said Mr Abe was a pragmatist, prepared to rein in his nationalist ideology in the national interest. By not going to Yasukuni, he said, “Abe can tell the Chinese and Koreans: ‘I'm a leader whom you can trust. I am different from Koizumi and I can restrain myself'.”

日本再建基金會(Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation)主席船橋洋一(Yoichi Funabashi)表示，安倍晉三是一個務實的人，願意從國家利益出發，收斂自己的民族主義意識形態。“安倍可以對中國和韓國說：‘我是你們可以信任的領導人。我跟小泉不同，我能夠剋制自己'。”

Kiichi Fujiwara, professor of international politics at Tokyo University, said Mr Abe remained committed to revisionist causes, borne of his conviction that Japan had been singled out for vilification after the war. “They have a victim mentality,” he said of Mr Abe and his conservative supporters. “They think, ‘These guys keep on telling lies about Japan and we look bad because of those lies'.”

東京大學(Tokyo University)國際政治教授藤原歸一(Kiichi Fujiwara)表示，安倍出於他的信念，即日本在戰後被專門挑出來作爲譴責對象，仍致力於修正主義事業。“他們有一種受害者心態，”他在談到安倍和他的保守派支持者時表示。“他們認爲：‘那些人一直在撒日本的謊，我們的形象不佳，就是因爲有那些謊言。'”