Victimhood should not be hyped up amid reflection on Hiroshima tragedy

BEIJING - As Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers lamented on Monday in Hiroshima the victims of US nuclear bombs in World War II, the event should serve as a reminder that the reflection on the tragedy should focus more on its root cause than Japan's much-trumpeted victimhood.

Upon the invitation of Japan, which has ceaselessly emphasized its identity as the sole victim of nuclear bombs, US Secretary of State John Kerry, together with his six other colleagues, made a landmark tour to the Peace Memorial Park, but had ruled out an apology ahead of the visit.

While reflecting on the Hiroshima tragedy, Tokyo could not evade the fact that the root cause of the US bombing, which claimed over 100,000 lives, lies in Japan's militaristic aggression and brutal violence against other countries.

Therefore, it is Tokyo's lasting moral obligation to let that notorious chapter known by every citizen of the country and make compensations and apologies fair and square to the affected individuals and facilities, not just in Japan but also in other stricken nations.

On the other hand, Tokyo's attempt to take the Hiroshima meeting to renew the West's reprimand for Pyongyang's nuclear program will only escalate the simmering tension in the region and provocate more tit-for-tat responses from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Speaking from a broader spectrum, the current Korean deadlock is the bitter legacy of decades of the West's distrust, animosity and confrontation wrought by its ingrained Cold War mentality.

It is no coincidence that most of the world's current hotspots and disturbances should be attributed to the West's biased policies.

Decades have passed since the end of the Cold War. But the world is far from tranquility. The recurrence of hostility and confrontation between countries with different ideologies and national conditions is alarming, bringing havoc to the international order.

For instance, the West-dominated G8 has expelled Russia from the group, and engaged in conflicts with it, directly or indirectly, politically or economically.

Ukraine and Syria, topics on the "big foreign policy agenda" of this meeting as Kerry tweeted, have both fallen victim fundamentally to such obstinate enmity wrought by the West's unmatchable confidence of its ideology and institution and disregard of others.

With so many bitter fruits in hand and an increasingly diversified world ahead, it is high time that the West discard its outdated mentality that favors confrontation over compromise, and unilateralism over multipolarization.

After all, a stable international order needs the participation of all relevant stakeholders. Otherwise, an exclusive and arrogant mind will only waltz up the G7 mechanism into a cul-de-sac, still less the settlement of issues its members have pursued.

And that is something worth retrospection by G7 foreign ministers, and G7 leaders who will meet in Japan next month.

Expectations are high that Western policymakers attending the G7 meeting could reaffirm their sincere commitment to the enhancement of dialogue and removal of misunderstanding and distrust with other nations, so as to promote world peace and stability and wipe out the root cause of the Hiroshima tragedy.

Only in that sense can the Hiroshima meeting fit Kerry's definition of the gathering that "is not about the past," but "about the present and the future."