Criticism of history textbooks

Chinese textbooks are "extreme" in their interpretation of history, Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Sunday, a day after China's president demanded Tokyo do more to improve relations damaged by new Japanese textbooks that allegedly whitewash wartime atrocities.

Machimura meanwhile hailed the Saturday meeting between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao in Jakarta, saying it has paved the way to start repairing attered ties that have led to anti-Japan protests across China.

"From the perspective of a Japanese person, Chinese textbooks appear to teach that everything the Chinese government has done has been correct," Machimura said on a TV Asahi talk show. "There is a tendency toward this in any country, but the Chinese textbooks are extreme in they way they uniformly convey the 'our country is correct' perspective."

Machimura also defended Japan's textbooks, saying they don't gloss over Japan's invasion of other Asian countries as alleged, and expressed dismay with the lopsided view of history taught in Chinese schools.

Well, well, well. Let's see how big of hypocrites the Chinese government makes of themselves.

Via Riding Sun, who says:

I'm sure China is eagerly awaiting Machimura's full report. Any bets on how long it takes for China to condemn his intrusion into its "internal affairs"?