New History Text Turns a Page in East Asia Ties

BEIJING - AMID a lull in diplomatic tension, a Chinese publisher yesterday launched a history book co-written by scholars from China, South Korea and Japan.

The book is in part a response to new controversial history textbooks in Japan. It is expected to see brisk sales in China, where anti-Japanese fury erupted into massive protests in April.

The Japanese and Korean versions of the book, launched late last month, enjoyed brisk sales. The first 20,000 copies of the Chinese edition are expected to be sold and distributed within days, officials told a press conference yesterday.

'It's hard to predict eventual sales, but I hope future editions will have a print run of one to two million,' said Mr Xie Shouguang, director of the Social Sciences Documentation Publishing House, the key publisher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a state think-tank.

In April, the Japanese government approved a revised history text which critics said whitewashed Tokyo's wartime conduct - a move which sparked fury in China and South Korea.

The textbook put out by publisher Fusosha, for instance, describes the Nanjing Massacre as a dubious event.

Anger over the textbook added fuel to already simmering rows between the three countries as they locked horns over territorial disputes and the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, which honours 14 Class A war criminals alongside 2.5 million Japanese war dead.

Professor Bu Ping, the key Chinese scholar involved in the joint project, said the history book was published partly in response to Fusosha's textbook, and also as a step towards helping the three East Asian neighbours resolve disputes arising from differing historical accounts.

Mr Umeda Masaki of the Japanese publishing house Koubunken added: 'Publishing this book is the first and most important step in creating the foundation for a peaceful future in East Asia.'

Fifty-three scholars from the three countries took three years to research and co-write the 229-page book, which covers the historical links among the East Asian neighbours and key episodes in their modern history.

Most of the book is, however, devoted to Japan's past wartime conduct in China and the Korean Peninsula, and the ensuing political fallout over the years.

It devotes considerable space to describing Japanese wartime atrocities, such as the Nanjing Massacre, though it steers clear of the emotional language and graphic examples found in Chinese history textbooks.

History textbooks commonly used in Chinese schools, for instance, describe the Nanjing Massacre as a 'heinous crime'.

Chinese scholars and publishing officials, however, say that the joint history book is considered 'supplementary reading material' and not an official textbook meant for use in schools here.

Asked if the new book would be forgotten once the political rows blow over, Prof Bu said: 'This book was not published simply due to the current tension. It has provided a platform for scholars from the three countries to conduct research together. It's more than just a symbolic gesture.'

Meanwhile, Japanese media reported yesterday that Japan and South Korea are likely to agree to convene a joint study group to discuss history textbooks in both countries when top leaders meet later this month.

Japan had earlier resisted calls to form such a study group, seeing it as a form of political intervention.