Return to Transcripts main page
CNN World Report
Lingering Tensions From World War II Cause Pacific Dissonance
Aired May 27, 2001 - 14:27 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ASIEH NAMDAR, CNN ANCHOR: New Zealand's prime minister is calling on Japan to apologize to those it held as prisoners during World War II. Prime Minister Helen Clark made the plea as she delivered long-awaited compensation to 150 or their families.
But as TV New Zealand reports, for some, the payments are too little, too late.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE JASPERS, TVNZ REPORTER (voice-over): Dickie Bell turns 81 on ANZAC Day. Compensation is not a birthday present he needs anymore.
DICKIE BELL, FORMER POW: Well, it's come a little bit late for us oldies, but I would rather not been through that whole ordeal to get that money.
JASPERS: Dickie was a civilian sailor who survived three grueling years in a camp in Japan. One in four of those interned didn't survive.
BELL: The treatment was brutal. As punishment, we had to arrive every morning at 5:30 and bow to the Japanese flag.
JASPERS: He and 150 military and civilian former prisoners, or their surviving spouses, will finally get payment, 56 years after winning freedom for the savage internment.
HELEN CLARK, NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER: I'm sorry it's taken so long. I can't give an explanation.
JASPERS: The decision follows compensation by the British and Canadian governments, but our government won't be demanding payment from the Japanese. They have never apologized for their brutality, but the PM is not holding her breath for that.
CLARK: Of course it should, but the word apology has not easily passed lips.
JASPERS: But missing out, over 300 Dutch living here, most naturalized New Zealand. Our government says compensation for them is up to the Dutch government. That's small comfort, says Dutch survivors. HENK ZEEMAN, FRM. DUTCH POW: We fought for this for a long time, but the way Dutch are treated by the Dutch government is appalling.
JASPERS: Also getting a bitter deal are the Kiwi sailors who were exposed to British nuclear testing in the '50s.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is definitely a case of being used as guinea pigs.
JASPERS: Some of the sailors' children are suffering from spinobifita (ph) and cleft palates. Now, they will be compensated, but the veterans want more.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got children that have genital problems, can't reproduce, combined with skin rashes, brain tumors.
JASPERS: Veterans are still better off tonight, and Dickie Bell has made up mind his one about thing one thing he won't be spending money on.
BELL: I wouldn't buy a Japanese car. I said I'll never have one if they gave me one.
JASPERS: From Television New Zealand, I'm Mike Jaspers, reporting for the CNN WORLD REPORT
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHIHAB RATTANSI, CNN ANCHOR: Meanwhile, South Korea and China are calling this week for Tokyo to stop a Japanese publishing company selling copies of a controversy history textbook. Seoul and Beijing feel the high school book glosses over Japan's wartime atrocities in World War II.
We get China's perspective on this issue in this report from CCTV.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEI YAN, CCTV REPORTER (voice-over): The people of the Republic of Korea are outraged by distorted information in the textbook. Both adults and high school students have lodged a strong protest. The ROK government also made a resolute diplomatic statement, ordering its ambassador to Japan to return home.
China, one of the biggest victims of Japan's aggression, blasted the textbook's failure to offer remorse for the tremendous sufferings of the Asian people at hands of the Japanese militants, those before and during World War II. Chinese scholar Zhao Jieqi said Japan is making a dangerous move.
ZHAO JIEQI, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (through translator): By glossing over their aggression over the war, Japanese right-wing forces hope that the younger generation will take pride in the country's past. They want to reshape young people's thinking in order to restore a sense of their nation's past glory. YAN: The textbook says: "Japan entered World War II in self- defense in an attempt to free Asia from the rule of Europe and the U.S." The book obscures the Nanjing massacre, and refers to the numbers killed as many, but not giving the actual total number of over 300,000 Chinese civilians and the list goes on. Chinese scholars believe that the textbook marks a resurgence of right-wing forces in Japan.
JIEQI (through translator): Currently Japan's economy is sluggish and politics are unstable, hampered by many scandals. This has provoked a mood of uncertainty among the Japanese. They hope that a strong figure will arise, giving right wing forces a chance to re- establish themselves.
YAN: The textbook has also strained relations between Japan and other Asian countries. They believe that if Japan insists on going along this track, the action could become a destabilizing factor in the region. However, because the book has received the approval of the Japanese Ministry of Education, it will be circulated in Japanese schools as early as April next year.
(on camera): To revise the textbook cannot change the facts. We do have good reason to worry, though, will the next generation of Japanese fail to learn the lessons of history? Will they somehow end up repeating it?
This is Mei Yan of China Central Television for CNN WORLD REPORT.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
