Simply smith

The Emperor of Japan has recently ended an official visit to this country. An otherwise run-of-the-mill visit by a foreign head of state has been distinguished by protests, placard-waving and vociferous objections by former World War II Japanese prisoners of war.

On the face of it their actions would seem reasonable and in accord with this country's sense of fair play. The suffering of these people at the hands of Japanese soldiers must have been enormous. I cannot envisage being at the receiving end of the harsh and inhuman treatment handed out to both military and civilian prisoners during WWII.

However, Government and the establishment appear greatly embarrassed by this situation. They are perhaps considering the economic implications of offending Japanese national pride and putting at risk the billions of Japanese yen invested in this country.

Certainly the employment prospects of thousands of workers would be considerably bleaker were that investment to be withdrawn.

Might I suggest that this is a little like burying our national head in the sand. Were the activities of the Allies during 1939-45 whiter than white? I think not. Should the citizens of Dresden demand an apology from our Queen for the saturation bombing of their city? An action that killed and injured thousands in the fire-ball of 1945.

Should the thousands who suffered at Hiroshima and Nagasaki complain to President Clinton (perhaps the Governments of India and Pakistan should be taken to those cities to view for themselves the awful power of nuclear weapons).

I am saying that, yes, the Japanese PoWs did not deserve the treatment that was meted out to them; yes, they have a fair case to put; and, yes, the Japanese Government should come clean and recompense these folk for the years of torment they have suffered both during and since the Second World War.

I am also saying that Total War and compassion for one's enemies are not good bed-fellows. During war things are accepted in the name of patriotism which peacetime attitudes would condemn.

Emperor Akihito was just 12 years old in 1945, our own Queen was but a teenager when the war ended, and President Clinton had not been born. Although President Clinton has executive powers and can speak on behalf of his government, our Queen and the Japanese Emperor have no such privilege.

Like Her Majesty, Emperor Akihito is a constitutional monarch: they are barred from uttering anything that would tend to alter British or Japanese government policy.

As a country we would be appalled to see the Queen ridiculed and insulted, quite rightly many of us are proud of our monarch. The Japanese Emperor is a symbol of his country's nationhood, and, if we value our relations with Japan, we must respect that country's monarch.

We may, and should, condemn Japanese policy towards former prisoners-of-war. But insulting and ridiculing their Emperor puts us in the wrong and deprives us of the high ground in any move towards compensation.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.