The governments of China and South Korea have expressed outrage at the approval of a new set of Japanese history textbooks which they claim glorify Japan's wartime past.

The aggression by Japan in the early half of the 20th century is glossed over according to Chinese and South Korean critics. The military occupations of neighboring countries are glossed over or spoken of in an approving manner. For example, the death of some 300,000 Chinese civilians in the city of Nanjing is referred to as an 'incident' in one of the text books rather than a massacre.

The newspaper 'The China Daily' called the new textbooks, 'unfit as a teaching tool' and added, 'without a consensus on the history issue and other disputes, the Asian peoples cannot place their trust in Japan's desire to play a bigger role in world affairs.'

'Wenhui Bao,' a daily paper in Shanghai added, 'How can a country which not only cannot correctly handle history, but falsifies history again and again, have the qualifications to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and a responsible member of the international community?'

'Hankyore,' a South Korean paper was also displeased with the textbooks. 'The results of the textbook approval process are as disappointing as can be, since they [the textbooks] are of great interest as a barometer of the future ties between Korea and Japan,' it comments.

Japan said that China and South Korea were overreacting to the textbooks. Japanese Cabinet spokesman Seiken Sugiura told reporters at a press conference that South Korea was reacting 'in an extreme manner.'

The Japanese government also said that school districts decide what textbooks to use and that the government will only replace texts if they are found to be factually incorrect.

This is not the last we will hear of this incident. Tempers are flaring as old wounds are reopened in Asia.