Akihito’s China Visit Won’t Focus on ‘Unfortunate’ Past

TOKYO — Emperor Akihito made it clear Thursday that his unprecedented six-day trip to China beginning next week will emphasize the present, not the past.

In a rare meeting with reporters before going to Beijing next Friday, he referred only obliquely to Japanese aggression against China in 1894-95 and again between 1931 and 1945, during which more than 12 million Chinese were killed, as “a period of unfortunate history” in a record of peaceful exchanges spanning 2,000 years,

“After the war . . . Japan resolved to live as a nation of peace. . . . I hope this visit will provide an opportunity to increase understanding of Japan as it is now--a nation aspiring for world peace,” he declared.

The emperor’s statements, made in reply to questions submitted in advance by selected Japanese and foreign reporters, underscored what Japanese government officials already had said: that Akihito and Empress Michiko are “not going to China to apologize” for past aggression.

Asked about opposition to his visit from some members of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, who feared that he might be forced to apologize, Akihito remarked, “Freedom of speech is one of the principles of a democratic society.”

Although memories of Japanese aggression still run deep in China, Beijing leaders have made it clear they will not demand an apology.