China Thursday expressed strong indignation at Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in
disregard of the opposition from people of China and other Asian
countries.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi lodged solemn
representations over Koizumi's shrine visit and condemned the act
when he summoned the charged affaires ad interim of Japan to China
to an interview.
The shrine honors Class-A war criminals whose hands were blotted
with blood of people of China and other Asian countries, Wang
said.
Prime Minister Koizumi' shrine visit not only went back on his
promise to reflect history but also impaired the political basis of
Sino-Japanese relations, he said.
The Chinese people cannot accept such actions by a Japanese
leader, he stressed.
"Taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future"
is the only right attitude to historical issues, Wang stressed.
The Chinese Embassy to Japan also made solemn representations to
the Japanese government Thursday.
The Republic of Korea Thursday also expressed regret over
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a
controversial shrine honoring Japanese war dead including World War
II criminals.
"Our government expresses deep regret that Japanese Prime
Minister Koizumi paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine housing mortuary
tablets to war criminals who undermined world peace and inflicted
intolerable damage and pain on our people," South Korean Foreign
Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said in a statement.
"We strongly urge him not to visit the shrine again." It was the
first time that the South Korean government directly demanded the
Japanese prime minister stop his annual shrine visit.
Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese
war dead, including a number of Class-A war criminals who fought
for Japan in World War II.
Shin said that South Korea cannot understand why Japan's top
leader insists on visiting the controversial shrine despite
opposition from the South Korean government.
"We feel anger mixed with worry about the fact that the feelings
of our people were hurt again," he said.
Koizumi should respect the positions of its neighboring nations
and the feelings of their peoples if he really wants to develop
friendly ties with these countries, the spokesman added.
(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2004)