USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    Home / World

    Another Yasukuni visit stirs anger of Tokyo's neighbors

    By Qin Jize | China Daily | Updated: 2014-01-02 07:30

    Japanese minister pays homage at shrine only six days after Abe

    A Japanese Cabinet minister's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on New Year's Day further strained relations between Tokyo and its Asian neighbors, observers said.

    Yoshitaka Shindo, Japanese minister of internal affairs and communications, made the trip just six days after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the shrine. Abe's visit prompted worldwide criticism, including from the United States, Japan's key ally.

    Shindo told Kyodo News Agency that his trip was a personal one and he was renewing a wish for peace. He said it was his sixth visit to the shrine since Abe assumed office a little over a year ago.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying expressed strong opposition to the visit on Wednesday, calling it another provocation by a Japanese Cabinet member.

    She said it exposed Japan's war crimes and attempts to "challenge the outcome of the world's anti-fascist war", a development that China finds dangerous.

    Another Yasukuni visit stirs anger of Tokyo's neighbors

    "The Chinese people and people of other Asian nations will not allow Japan to reverse history. We solemnly urge Japan to reflect upon history," she said.

    The Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class A war criminals from World War II are honored, is regarded as a brutal reminder of Tokyo's imperialist past and wartime aggression.

    Zhou Yongsheng, a professor at China Foreign Affairs University, agreed. "His decision to visit the shrine was made despite international condemnation, and we can tell that the Japanese government has chosen to stand on the opposite side of all peace-loving countries," he said.

    Yang Bojiang, deputy director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Shindo has always been a pioneer in Japan's Liberal Democratic Party in pushing the act of glorifying criminal history.

    Therefore Shindo's visit to Yasukuni Shrine is to show the Cabinet's support of Abe, Yang said.

    In a New Year message published on Wednesday, Abe also reaffirmed his resolve to change Japan's pacifist post-World war II constitution, which limits Japan's military to self-defense, and said the document could be amended by 2020.

    Analysts say rewriting the Constitution has always been Abe's ultimate goal.

    Yang said Abe will amend the Constitution to let the "right to collective self-defense" - illegal under the existing official interpretation of the Constitution - be allowed by twisting the interpretation of the document, even though everyone knows the revision is illegal.

    On New Year's Eve, Foreign Minister Wang Yi telephoned US Secretary of State John Kerry and Wang's South Korean counterpart, Yun Byung-se, to convey his alarm over Abe's Yasukuni Shrine visit.

    "Our response is just and legitimate. We are safeguarding human conscience, internationally acknowledged axioms and the dignity of people of the invaded countries," Wang said during his conversation with Yun.

    Wang had made three similar calls to his counterparts in Vietnam, Germany and Russia a day earlier.

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia stands with China on the Yasukuni Shrine issue and opposes Abe's visit, deeming it a provocation to Japan's Asian neighbors. Lavrov urged Japan to correct its erroneous historical view and avert further moves that will hurt the feelings of the victims of Japanese aggression.

    In a written answer to Kyodo News, Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Luong Thanh Nghi said he wishes Japan would deal with the issue in a proper way in the consideration of regional peace, stability and cooperation.

    A newspaper in Germany, an ally of Japan in World War II, also suggested that Japan should face up to its history.

    German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that Abe's attitude, which is reflected by his behavior, is a cause for concern, and Japan under Abe wants to take a different path than one of universal values and human rights.

    The newspaper said Abe has no intention to correct the mistakes Japan made in World War II, an attitude which is close to his nationalistic colleagues in and outside the ruling party.

    Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Washington-based Heritage Foundation think tank, also criticized the shrine visit.

    "Abe's trip is a serious foreign policy mistake that threatens allied security interests in Asia," Klingner told Xinhua News Agency.

    Ren Jie, Zhou Wa and Xinhua News Agency contributed to this story.

    qinjize@chinadaily.com.cn

     Another Yasukuni visit stirs anger of Tokyo's neighbors

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pays a visit on Dec 26 to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals of World War II and is considered a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Ma Ping / Xinhua

     Another Yasukuni visit stirs anger of Tokyo's neighbors

    Then West German chancellor Willy Brandt drops to his knees at the monument to victims of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising on Dec 7, 1970. Provided to China Daily

    (China Daily 01/02/2014 page10)

    Today's Top News

    Editor's picks

    Most Viewed

    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    欧美激情中文字幕| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区久久 | 中文字幕在线无码一区| 亚洲中文字幕久久精品无码APP| 无码人妻一区二区三区在线水卜樱 | 大蕉久久伊人中文字幕| (愛妃視頻)国产无码中文字幕| 久久亚洲精品成人无码网站| 无码精品日韩中文字幕| 日韩视频无码日韩视频又2021| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区DV | 亚洲国产综合无码一区 | 日韩精品久久无码中文字幕| 无码伊人66久久大杳蕉网站谷歌| 最好看2019高清中文字幕| 伊人久久大香线蕉无码麻豆 | 亚洲成av人片在线观看天堂无码| 好看的中文字幕二区高清在线观看| 人妻少妇看A偷人无码精品 | 亚洲无码黄色网址| 精品久久久久久无码免费| 日韩人妻无码中文字幕视频| 免费a级毛片无码a∨免费软件| 日本高清免费中文在线看| 精品久久无码中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕在线观看| 中文字幕 qvod| 天堂а在线中文在线新版| 天天看高清无码一区二区三区| av无码久久久久久不卡网站 | 久久无码人妻精品一区二区三区| 国产网红无码精品视频| 精品无码一区二区三区爱欲九九 | 国产精品va无码一区二区| 人妻无码αv中文字幕久久| 亚洲成A人片在线观看无码不卡| 成人午夜亚洲精品无码网站| 精品无码一区二区三区在线| 国产成年无码久久久免费| 亚洲国产精品无码久久久不卡| 无码人妻精品一区二区三区久久 |