Japan's ex-PM criticizes militarism

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Former Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama criticized Japan's current military stance, saying the "active pacifism"created by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is a narrow-minded concept and, therefore, cannot bring real peace to the Asia-Pacific region.

Hatoyama made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Saturday before his departure to China for a peace forum that focuses on how to build peace in Asia and the world.

The former prime minister said that countries with different values could overcome the diversities and find common interests through dialogue.

"It is the essence of the word 'dialogue'," he said.

However, Abe's "active pacifism" and his "values" diplomacy intend to unite countries sharing similar values in a move to alienate or fight against countries with different values, said Hatoyama, adding that if Japan lifts the ban on collective self-defense rights, it could go to war with other countries and peace and war are incompatible.

If Japan abandons its postwar peaceful road, it means that Japan will drop the country’s real treasure, according to the former prime minister.

As to Abe's efforts to besiege China and instigate confrontation with China, Hatoyama pointed out that the move would achieve the contrary and isolate Japan itself from the international community.

Furthermore, Abe's administration has misunderstanding of the real US strategy, Hatoyama said, pointing out that China's importance to the United States will be more and more significant and the Japan-US alliance could not change the trend.

On building up an Asian community, Hatoyama said that the first step is to surmount the tensions between neighbor countries in Asia so as to improve national feelings toward each other.

Japan and China should share friendship and to achieve the goal, the Japanese people should learn more about history and have more courage to face up to history so as to enhance mutual understanding and future-oriented cooperation, he added.

About the broadcaster:

Anne Ruisi is an editor at China Daily online with more than 30 years of experience as a newspaper editor and reporter. She has worked at newspapers in the U.S., including The Birmingham News in Alabama and City Newspaper of Rochester, N.Y.