Shanghai Daily news

Only those who face the dark chapters of their history will be able to move forward.
This is what German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said at the dedication of Willy Brandt Square in Warsaw five years ago.
During willy Brandt's historic visit to Poland in 1970, the former German Chancellor knelt down at a memorial for the fallen heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto who were murdered by the Nazi regime.
Brandt did what only great leaders are capable of doing when words fail them - accept his country's past and apologize. His actions helped Germany secure better relations with Poland and gain the world's respect.
The powerful image of him kneeling should be shown to the leaders of Japan, who, to this day, have refused to accept its country's responsibility for atrocities committed in China and Southeast Asia before and during World War II.
Earlier this month a new draft of a Japanese history textbook was leaked to the public. It shows right-wing Japanese scholars never tire of their petty attempts to distort history. This time they have gone even further. They are no longer satisfied with whitewashing and exculpating their crimes; they now blame the Sino-Japanese war on China and try to convince others Japan was a victim.
In the textbook, the compilation committee avoided language that revealed the aggressive war it waged in Asia. It also downplayed atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers, sugar coated its colonization of the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan Province, denied the Nanjing Massacre and voiced grievance for its war criminals.
Asian nations will not accept this revisionist behavior. Last Wednesday South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun issued a statement to his people, declaring his government would take all diplomatic steps to call for "a sincere response" from Tokyo. He also said he would ask for the international community's assistance in tackling the matter.
Roh has made a wise decision. To make the issue known internationally and not limit it to a bilateral dispute, is the most effective way to strike back.