Because of Japanese ambivalence over its war crimes during WWII, younger generations of Japanese are completely unaware of the events of WWII. They have no idea of the war crimes the Japanese military convicted, of the millions of people raped or murdered as a result of Japanese aggression.

Teaching in the United States, I have encountered various Japanese students who threatened to sue me when I talked about Japanese war crimes in China.

Some Japanese insisted that it was America who defeated Japan, refusing to recognize the role the Chinese people played in defeating Japanese aggression.

To these Japanese students, I told them China did not defeat Japan alone, and that America did play an important role in defeating Japan in 1945.

But they should remember the undeniable fact that China was able to push back from its border the US led UN forces back to the 38th Parallel during the Korean War. I told the Japanese students that as long as the Chinese people persisted in their War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, it was only a matter of time before the Chinese people would defeat the Japanese invaders. That is a lesson both the US and Japan should keep in mind.

I wrote an article in China Daily last year when Japanese Authorities arrested Chinese fishermen, charging them with violating Japanese territory when they got too close to the Diaoyu Islands. I commented then that disputes over the Diaoyu Islands would do Japan no good. China could use the dispute to settle its historical account with Japan. Japan had extracted tremendous financial and natural resources from China in the form of war indemnities and through its colonization of large part of China before and during WWII.

Many Chinese people were not very happy with the Chinese decision to refrain from demanding compensation from Japan when it was defeated in 1945 and when China established diplomatic relations with Japan in 1972. Chinese leaders decided to do what they did in 1951 when China signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan, and in 1972 when the People's Republic of China and Japan exchanged diplomatic recognition. They hoped their generosity for the Japanese people would be ground for a lasting peace for China and Japan in which both China and Japan would prosper.

Some Japanese leaders, like the current Japanese Ambassador to China Unichiro Niwa, rightly pointed out that Japan's position on Diaoyu Islands would rock Sino-Japanese relations. He believes peaceful relations with China are in the best interests of Japan in the long run. Unfortunately, Ambassador Uichiro Niwa's sensible position on the Diaoyu Islands does not receive support in the Japanese government and society.

The Japanese government dares to defy the Potsdam Proclamation by claiming the Diaoyu Islands because it has been counting on American military support in the event of a military confrontation with China. But Japan needs to keep in mind it is not an independent nation in the world yet. It still lives at the mercy of American military superiority with US bases scattered over its territory.

If Japan does not take serious steps to improve its relations with China and its other Asian neighbors, it will never be able to gain independence.

Instead of counting on US military support, Japan needs to show the US and the world that it no longer has territory disputes with its neighbors and is ready to coexist with its neighbors in peace.

Japan should give up its unfounded claim over Diaoyu Islands and use this as an opportunity to improve its relationship with China.

Otherwise, if its dispute with China over Diaoyu Islands and its dispute over the Dokdo Islands with the Republic of Korea escalate, Japan will have a great more to lose in the end.

The author is a professor of history and political science at the Warren Wilson College in the US.

The opinions expressed here do not represent the views of the China Daily website.