「江藤発言」を朝日新聞・英語版はどう伝えたか

↓LDP's Eto angers Japan neighbors_again
http://www.asahi.com/english/politics/K2003071500387.html

It takes some audacity for a single person to offend millions of people with some insensitive comments. But Takami Eto has done that twice already.

In fact, the Liberal Democratic Party faction co-leader expanded his scope of ``targets'' over the weekend, angering South Korea, China and thousands of law-abiding foreign residents in Japan.

Eto, in a speech Saturday to an LDP branch meeting in Fukui, disputed casualty figures in the Rape of Nanking, denied Japan forcefully colonized the Korean Peninsula and used a derogatory term in describing illegal immigrants as ``robbers and murderers.''

On Sunday, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement in response to Eto's views.

``We cannot suppress our lament and deep disappointment that controversy arises whenever a responsible politician of the ruling coalition and LDP repeats statements that try to turn back the clock based on a mistaken historical view,'' the statement said.

Seoul has refrained from responding to such comments by individuals other than important government figures since Japan and South Korea signed a joint declaration in 1998 calling for a future-oriented bilateral relationship.

However, Eto is a repeat offender. In 1995, he said Japan's colonization had done ``some good things'' for the Korean Peninsula. Amid the ensuing uproar, Eto resigned as director-general of what was then the Management and Coordination Agency.

But since his resignation, Eto apparently has not read any books on sensitivity.

Eto touched upon illegal foreigners in Japan when speaking about the need for law and order if refugees fleeing a war on the Korean Peninsula try to reach Japan by boat.

``There are a lot of those kind in Japan and they commit robbery and murder,'' he said. ``Kabukicho in Shinjuku is now a lawless district controlled by daisangokujin. Recently, gangs of illegal immigrants from China, South Korea and other nations are committing robbery.

``Is there another nation that suffers from such a condition?''

The word daisangokujin literally means ``third-nation people.'' But it has a deeper context. Before and during World War II, the derogatory term was used to refer to Koreans and Taiwanese.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, another politician not known for his sensitivity, also used the term in an inflammatory speech in April 2000 about possible rioting by foreigners.

Ishihara has long angered China, but Beijing's new target was Eto and his comment, ``The statement that 300,000 people (were victims) in the Nanking Massacre is nothing but a fabrication and lie.''

China's Foreign Ministry issued a statement Sunday that read in part: ``There is indisputable evidence that the Nanking Massacre was an atrocious crime. It was widely accepted by the international community from an early date.''

Eto, in fact, showed that he could use a good history book.

In referring to Japan's 1910 annexation of Korea, Eto said, ``Since the two nations signed a treaty that was approved unconditionally by the United Nations, why is it that 90 years after the fact it becomes colonial domination?''

The United Nations was not set up until 1945, the year Japan's colonial rule ended.

Even if Eto was referring to the League of Nations, he would have been wrong; the league's covenant was not formulated until 1919.(IHT/Asahi: July 15,2003)

(07/15)

なんか、見出しからして「Japan neighbors」のための新聞みたいですが。
だいたい「used a derogatory term in describing illegal immigrants as ``robbers and murderers.''」（翻訳すると「不法滞在者を「泥棒と人殺し」という侮蔑語で表現した」ですか？）という英訳にするとは、俺の想像の斜め左上を言ってました。江藤氏の発言は、前にも引用した通り「不法滞在者はどろぼうや人殺しやらばかりしているやつらで、いっぱい日本にはいる」なんですが。そりゃこの英訳でしか江藤氏の発言を知る由がない人間は怒るかもしれないですね。
あ〜、俺としては、朝日新聞が記事にした以下のテキスト、本当はなんて言っているのか、何となく確認できたのがありがたいです。
↓南京大虐殺否定発言に中国外務省が批判コメント
http://www.asahi.com/international/update/0714/006.html

　中国外務省の孔泉（コン・チュワン）報道局長は１３日、自民党江藤・亀井派の江藤隆美会長が南京大虐殺を否定する発言をしたことについて「南京大虐殺は、日本の軍国主義が中国への侵略戦争中に犯した残虐な罪悪であり、動かぬ証拠がある。国際社会でも早くから定説となっている。歴史の事実を歪曲（わいきょく）したり否定したりするいかなるたくらみも、その目的を達成することはできない」と批判するコメントを発表した。国営通信・新華社も同日、日本国内の報道を引用する形で江藤氏の発言を伝えた。

(07/14 12:12)

要するに「There is indisputable evidence that the Nanking Massacre was an atrocious crime. It was widely accepted by the international community from an early date.」で、「動かぬ証拠」というよりは「明白な証拠」でしょうか。ただし「30万人殺した」という証拠ではなく「残虐な罪である」という証拠みたいですが…。
さて、そろそろ「本当はなんていっていたのか」ネタも、ディープな方向に進みすぎているような気がするので、ここらで一段落させて、ネタそのものの再考をしたいと思います。
じゃないとちっとも「気ままな日記」にならないです。ヘトヘト。