Malcolm Fraser has criticised the Japanese prime minister and US President Barack Obama for attacking China on Australian soil.
The former Australian prime minister said Shinzo Abe should not have used his speech to parliament on Tuesday to discuss Japan's nationalisation of the Senkaku Islands.
In September 2012, Japan bought the highly contested islands in the East China Sea from the Kurihara family, sparking outrage from Beijing.
"(Mr Abe) knows quite well China and many others regard that as a totally aggressive act on the part of Japan," Mr Fraser said at a Lowy Institute event on Wednesday.
But Mr Fraser said the first world leader to mistakenly use the Australian parliament was Mr Obama.
He said the US president's November 2011 speech, in which he announced his country's pivot to Asia, was misguided and wrong.
"It was a major announcement of American policy on Australian soil as though Australian soil was American soil," Mr Fraser said.
"If you can't understand that, well, then you can't understand what being Australian means."
Mr Fraser said a lot of things would change if Japan was prepared to apologise for the rape of Nanking and give a rational reason why its school children were not taught about Japan's atrocities across China.
"Japan has managed to make itself into the aggrieved party when it's got no right to be," he said.
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