Senior Vice-Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Yoshitaka Sakurada on Monday denied the existence of the issue of sexual slavery, or "comfort women".

His remark came after the Japanese government decision to set up a team to re-examine the testimonies by some former South Korean "comfort women", which formed the basis of the 1993 statement.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said during a lower house session on Feb. 28 that "we'd like to launch a team to re-examine and understand the background", adding: "It will be extremely difficult, but it's important to review and see what the situation was."

The recent moves by some Japanese right-leaning politicians should remind the international community that people of the world must sharpen vigilance and try to see through all the tricks Abe and his like play in their attempts to whitewash its wartime history and push Japan onto a dangerous road of challenging post-war international order and endangering peace and stability in the region.

The authors are with Xinhua News Agency.

(China Daily 03/07/2014 page10)