(TOKYO, Japan) President Benigno S. Aquino III addresses the joint session of the National Diet of Japan at the Chamber of the House of Councillors (HoC) of the National Diet during his State Visit on Wednesday (June 03). Also in photo are HoC President Masaaki Yamazaki and House of Representatives Speaker Tadamori Oshima. (Photo by Ryan Lim / Malacañang Photo Bureau)
JUNE 4 (Reuters) — Philippines President Benigno Aquino addressed Japanese parliament on Wednesday (June 3), praising Japan’s post-war efforts as having gone beyond healing the wounds of World War Two, after earlier comparing China with Nazi Germany.
“For your part, you have gone beyond fulfilling obligation to heal the wounds of the past, and acted with truly altruistic intentions. You rebuilt not only yourself but those of us who’ve been left further behind had it not been for your unselfishness,” Aquino told parliament members.
Aquino’s speech was met by a standing ovation by policy makers including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
At an earlier separate speech, Aquino made a veiled comparison between China’s activities in the South China Sea and Nazi Germany’s expansionism before World War Two, echoing similar remarks he made last year that outraged Beijing.
Aquino, who is expected to agree beefed up defence ties with Japan when he meets Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday, also urged Beijing to rethink its land reclamation projects in the disputed waters.
“When America and Japan both talk about their concerns, and this voice is also seconded by the European Union and by other countries that have expressed concern about the reclamation efforts, that reminds China, I believe, of its responsibility as a member of the community of the nations to adhere to international law and to perhaps re-examine its objectives relative to its maintaining the good will of the rest of the world,” he said at an event sponsored by the Nikkei business newspaper.
China has been taking an increasingly assertive posture in recent years in the South China Sea, building artificial islands in areas where Manila and other Southeast Asian countries have rival claims.
Asked about Washington’s strategic “rebalance” to Asia and China’s maritime moves, Aquino suggested the U.S. role was key, and alluded to Nazi Germany’s territorial expansion before World War Two and Western appeasement.
“The commentators on this documentary were saying, ‘What if somebody said stop to [Adolf] Hitler at that point in time, or to Germany at that time, would we have avoided World War Two?'” He said, recalling a documentary on Germany expansionism before the war.
Aquino made similar comments last year, which China branded “outrageous and totally unreasonable”.
The Philippine leader also said Beijing’s South China Sea land reclamation projects appeared to violate an international agreement.
China and the 10-member Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) signed an agreement in 2002 to refrain from occupying uninhabited reefs and shoals in the sea, and from building new structures that would complicate disputes.
During Aquino’s state visit, Tokyo and Manila are likely to agree to start talks on a framework for the transfer of defence equipment and technology, the latest move by Abe to beef up ties with Asian nations facing China’s naval ambitions.
Japan, which last year eased restrictions on arms exports, already has such agreements with the United States, Britain, Australia and France.
Japan has no territorial claims in the South China Sea but is engaged in a separate bitter row with Beijing over tiny isles in the East China Sea.