US rejection of Japan's request over Diaoyu Islands called
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E-mail Xinhua, February 15, 2013
A group of Chinese-Americans on Thursday called on U.S. President Barack Obama to reject Japan's request for support over the Diaoyu Islands and Tokyo's attempt to revise its pacifist constitution.
The group, which called itself "Concerned Citizens on U.S. Policy Towards Japan," made the call in a letter to Obama, Wenji V. Chang, who drafted the letter, told Xinhua.
The scheduled visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Washington late this month will have potential impact on the peace, stability and prosperity of the Pacific Rim countries and also the economic recovery of the United States, said Chang, a professor from the University of Southern California.
As a Chinese-American and a U.S. citizen, he said, he felt it is important to make the U.S. president aware of people's concerns and urge him to reject the Japanese request for U.S. support.
The letter said the main objective of Abe's visit is to seek U.S. support in the dispute with China on the Diaoyu Islands and solicit U.S. opinions on Abe's desire to revise or reinterpret Article 9 of Japan's pacifist constitution.
Abe will try to justify his requests by dangling the promise of strong support for U.S. military presence in East Asia, said the letter.
"We strongly urge you to reject both attempts, because they are against the fundamental and long-term interests of our country," it stressed.
After 20 years of economic stagnation and government ineptitude, Japanese society is rapidly turning nationalistic and militaristic, reminding people in the region of old Japan prior to World War II, noted the letter.
"The ultra-conservative wing of the Japanese political spectrum, of which Abe is the leader, will not be our long-term friend," said the letter.
It added that Japan would "no longer be a U.S. ally once she is free from the yoke of Article 9 of the pacifist constitution," which states that the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.
The letter said the territorial dispute over Diaoyu Islands would not have been an issue if the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, which obliged Japan to return all Chinese territories it had forcibly occupied, were properly executed as they should have been.
"Unfortunately, the dispute developed because of post-WWII geopolitical manipulations. We cannot change history. However, Japan's claim that there is no dispute whatsoever is not only foolish, but closes the door to any meaningful negotiation," the letter said.
Provocation by Japanese right-wing politicians with both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan "are not coincidence but a deliberate effort to destroy Article 9 of the Japanese constitution," the letter stressed.
"The U.S. should not become a tool of Japanese ultra-conservatives," it said.
The group also urged fellow U.S. citizens to support their petition on the White House website.
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