Abe stops short of apology in speech to US Congress

American lives lost in the second world war were "sacrifices in defending freedom", Shinzo Abe told the US Congress in an emotive speech that nonetheless stopped short of the reckoning with history his critics have called for.

As the first Japanese prime minister to address a joint session of Congress, Mr Abe mentioned Pearl Harbor, where Japan's surprise attack began the Pacific war; and Bataan Corregidor, a battle followed by a death march of US prisoners.

But Mr Abe, whose conservative nationalism causes unease in northeast Asia and occasionally in Washington, offered no direct apology. His speech on Wednesday gave little sense that any part of Japan's wartime history required a special reckoning.

The address to Congress was the highlight of a week-long trip designed to demonstrate the strong ties between the US and Japan, which have been invigorated by their mutual anxiety about a more powerful China.

Barack Obama has laid out the red carpet for the Japanese leader who has become one of his more reliable partners, including a state dinner at the White House and an impromptu personal tour of the Lincoln Memorial.

Yet, amid all the signs of stepped up US-Japan co-operation, including the announcement of defence guidelines that will allow their military forces to work more closely together, Mr Abe's remarks about history were being scrutinised, both in the US and in Asia. Several Korean groups, including former "comfort women" who were forced into sexual slavery during the war, held a protest outside Congress.

Mr Abe said that "our actions brought suffering to the peoples in Asian countries" and that he would uphold official statements made by previous prime ministers about Japan's wartime record.

"History is harsh. What is done cannot be undone," said Mr Abe. "I offer with profound respect my eternal condolences to the souls of all American people that were lost during World War Two."

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Mr Abe was never likely to prostrate himself before a foreign legislature, but the speech - following one he gave in Australia last year - shows a pattern to his remarks on historical memory. Mr Abe will express remorse and repentance for the military losses of Japan's opponents, but he is less willing to criticise and apologise for Japanese actions.

The Washington speech will intensify questions about his statement on the 70th anniversary of the war's end, due in August, and whether it will water down past apologies for Japan's "colonial rule and aggression".

Mr Abe's reticence about wartime actions has been criticised by some US politicians. "For the interest of geopolitical stability, not to mention for historical accuracy, I think it's important for the government of Japan to be more forward-leaning in the pronouncements they're making," Republican senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio said.

Mr Abe's speech was sharply criticised by some Democratic members of Congress. Mike Honda, a House member from California, said it was "shocking and shameful" that he "continues to evade his government's responsibility . . . for the so-called 'comfort women'." Judy Chu, another California Democrat, said she was "incredibly disappointed that he failed to directly address the problem of comfort women".

However, the US has also welcomed the emergence in Japan of a decisive leader in the shape of Mr Abe after so many years of weak governments and has encouraged his drive for Japan to play a larger role in the world. "Japan is doing 22 new things under Abe and the US likes 18 of them," says Douglas Paal, a former senior White House official.

Mr Abe told Congress that the Trans-Pacific Partnership - a trade deal under negotiation between Japan, the US and a group of Pacific nations - matters far beyond economics.

"It is also about our security. Long-term, its strategic value is awesome," said Mr Abe, in a message that may help to persuade some congressional Republicans wavering about whether to give fast-track negotiating authority to Mr Obama.

Pledging to push ahead with controversial reforms of Japanese agriculture, he said the US and Japan were "near" to settling their differences in the trade talks. "Let us bring the TPP to a successful conclusion through our joint leadership," he said.

Mike Green, a former Asia director at the National Security Council, said the key point for the administration was whether Mr Abe said enough to ease tensions between Japan and South Korea, Washington's other key ally in northeast Asia. He said the speech contained "about as much as the administration expected" on history issues. "I think that most people who follow this will think that the prime minister went pretty far," he said.

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