BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- The year of 2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the end of the WWII and also the defeat of the Japanese invasion in Asia-Pacific countries.
China and other Asian countries have been lodging their complaints over Japanese rightist government's attempts to whitewash the history of Japan's Imperial Army during the war.
Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is expected to give a highly sensitive speech this summer reflecting Tokyo's wartime military action.
Though Abe has said that his statement would be based on the previous speeches made by two former prime ministers, Tomiichi Murayama and Junichiro Koizumi, Asian countries are still worried as he has cut a controversial figure in the region due to several of his statements of whitewashing the country's war past.
Beijing and Seoul vehemently argued that Japan has not properly atoned for its actions in the 1930s and 1940s, as it marched across Asia, leaving millions dead in its wake.
In addition, Abe is also expected to speak before U.S. lawmakers on April 29.
As the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, what exact wording Abe would employ in the speech concerning Japanese invasion in Asian countries in the WWII will become an important indicator of his upcoming "big speech".
Abe's equivocation on Japan's war atrocities in the 1930s and1940s has infuriated its Asian neighbors, and even tested the nerve of Japan's key ally, the United States.
On Aug. 15, 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of the war, then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said in his statement that Japan caused "tremendous damage and suffering" to the peoples of Asia and other countries through its colonial rule and aggression, and expressed "feelings of deep remorse" and "heartfelt apology."
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