China hits out as Japan lawmakers visit shrine
Print Edition
Japan’s internal affairs minister and more than 100 other lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead yesterday, prompting China to accuse Japan of undermining ties and trying to overturn the post-World War Two order.
China summoned Tokyo’s ambassador in Beijing to express its anger and South Korea also criticized the lawmakers’ action.
The visits, marking an autumn festival, came a day after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made his third ritual offering to the shrine since returning to office last year, though he did not visit it in person.
Abe has stayed away from the shrine in central Tokyo, where war criminals are honored along with other war dead, to avoid further straining ties with China and South Korea, both victims of Japan’s militarism before its surrender in 1945.
“The Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol and spiritual tool of Japanese militarism,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
Monstrous crimes
“It consecrates monstrous crimes committed against Asia’s victimized peoples, including those in China, by 14 Class A war criminals ... This is a major matter of principle bearing on the foundation of Sino-Japanese relations.”
The visits, she said, were another attempt to whitewash Japan’s history “and challenge the end result of World War II, as well as the post-war international order.”
Yasukuni honors Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal, making it a painful reminder to nations that suffered from Japanese aggression.
Internal Affairs Minister Yoshitaka Shindo was the most senior of about 160 lawmakers to visit the shrine. A deputy chief cabinet secretary also went.
Sino-Japanese ties have been overshadowed for years by Japan’s refusal to admit to atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in China between 1931 and 1945.
Memories of a brutal Japanese occupation also remain strong in South Korea, where the Foreign Ministry repeated its view that Japanese lawmakers should stay away from the shrine. “We urge Japanese politicians to show speech and actions based on humble introspection and reflection of the past that will help build trust with its neighboring countries,” the ministry said.
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