Historia est magistra vitae — history is the teacher of life (Cicero).

On May 28, the International Symposium Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Commencement of the Tokyo Trials was held in Shanghai.

Dozens of experts from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Russia, Germany and Spain attended the event and examined the trials' historic significance and contemporary relevance — not as an act of nostalgia but as part of a contemporary search for peace.

A historic reckoning

The Tokyo Trials were not a product of "victor's justice" or ex post facto law, as some right-wing elements in Japan have claimed. Rather, they were a historic reckoning for Japan's crimes of aggression and delivered a measure of justice to millions of people who perished during World War II.

Instead of resorting to summary executions or hasty military trials, the Tokyo Trials spanned two and-a-half years, during which time the tribunal admitted 4,336 pieces of evidence and heard 419 witnesses in 818 sessions, and produced over 48,000 pages of trial records and a judgment exceeding 1,200 pages. These figures demonstrate the rigor of the trials and their steadfast commitment to safeguarding peace for future generations.

The significance of the Tokyo Trials lies in more than the punishment of war criminals; the trials also advanced the development of international criminal law. Together with the Nuremberg Trials, they affirmed that aggression is an international crime that carries inevitable moral and legal consequences: political and military leaders must bear individual responsibility for acts of state, and official position confers no immunity — a principle now widely recognized in modern international criminal law.

As Japanese scholar Masataka Mori noted at the Shanghai symposium, the Tokyo Trials were a just judgment aimed at delivering the world from "destruction" to "civilization," and from "aggression and violence" to "peace and cooperation".

A revisionist Japan

Justice is not pronounced — it is enforced. For Japan, accepting the Tokyo Trials' verdict requires a decisive break with its militarist past.

This is not a matter of choice but a legal obligation under postwar international instruments, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, the Instrument of Surrender and Japan's own "Peace Constitution", which expressly renounces war and the right of belligerency and prohibits the maintenance of "land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential".

Despite the above, Japan has been talking peace while marching toward remilitarization for a number of years, particularly since the rise to power of Sanae Takaichi.

We have witnessed Prime Minister Takaichi brazenly interfering in China's internal affairs by openly declaring that "a Taiwan emergency is a Japanese emergency". Meanwhile, Japanese politicians continue to pay homage at the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo. We have observed Japan moving toward neo-militarism at a faster pace — expanding its defense budget to a record high for the 14th consecutive year, accelerating the deployment of medium? and long?range offensive missiles, lifting restrictions on the export of lethal weapons, and pushing to revise its constitution and its three key security documents — all of which breach its postwar commitments and challenge the postwar international order.

Whatever Japan's rhetoric, its actions speak volumes about its true intentions. As experts from around the world warned at the symposium, the international community must remain on high alert, and jointly guard against and resolutely curb this neo-militarist tendency before it becomes a menace too large to rein in.

The aggressor-victim complex trap

Japan often portrays World War II as a heavy historical burden on its shoulders — but it forgets that this burden is of its own making, and that it has no one to blame but itself. Tokyo has plunged itself into an aggressor-victim complex trap, where it remains stuck to this day.

The route to salvation is simple: face historical truth, acknowledge wrongdoing, cut all ties with the militarist past and move on.

As the renowned Japanese scholar Shuichi Kato once said, the self?esteem of the Japanese people does not lie in whitewashing or concealing past mistakes, but in confronting them bravely and criticizing them without flinching.

Eighty years ago, the Tokyo Trials were a testament to humanity's collective will to choose peace over war and to uphold justice over evil. Today, they serve as a stark reminder to Japan: if it refuses to make the right choice, it is doomed to a crushing defeat.

The author is a commentator on international affairs.

The views don't necessarily represent those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.