Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has repeatedly expressed his intention to visit the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, causing strong indignation and condemnation at home and aboard.

August 15 is the day marking the defeat and unconditional surrender of Japanese imperialism and the victory of anti-fascism war by peace-loving people all over the world.

It also serves as the anniversary of the Japanese people free from the militarist rule and birth of a new Japan.

On such a remarkable day, Japan should never hold any activities to beautify the past war if it really has learnt the past lessons and determines never to wage wars of aggression.

Koizumi's proposed visit of the Yasukuni Shrine on such a day will certainly cast a shadow over Japan's relationship with its Asian neighbors and hurt the feeling of their people.

Yasukuni Shrine, which was established in 1869 and took its current name 10 years later, was under state control until the end of World War II.

The shrine, now a religious organization approved by the Tokyo metropolitan government, houses the memorial tablets of 14 class-A war criminals, including wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, together with some 2.5 million Japanese who have died in wars since the 19th century.

It is a symbol of Japanese militarism and a wartime government- sponsored Shintoism before and during World War II to propagate imperialism.

During Japan's aggressive wars, those deceived Japanese youth usually went to the shrine to pay their respect.

After the World War II, Japan abolished Shintoism and Yasukuni became a religious site. Yet, some Japanese politicians still demand the shrine be sponsored by the state and the heads of state pay homage to it.

Even today the Yasukuni Shrine is still full of materials beautifying Japan's past aggressions, with no signs at all of Japan's repentance for its past war crimes.

On August 15 of every year, a handful of rightists will make a hue and cry in the shrine in an effort to revive the dying embers of militarism. Wearing uniforms of the imperial army, they even wave high flags of aggression.

Therefore, it is clear to visit the Yasukuni Shrine is not to mourn the common war dead, nor an internal issue of Japan.

It is, in fact, a touchstone of the Japanese government's attitude towards the history of aggression. It is a fundamental issue of importance showing Japan's attitude toward the Asian victims of its past aggressions.

Koizumi's planned visit to the Yasukuni Shrine has drawn strong criticism and condemnation from its neighbors as well as the peace- loving groups and parties at home.

His purpose in doing this is nothing but to woo votes from the Japanese rightists as well as to beautify Japan's past aggressions.

As leader of Japan -- a major nation in Asia, Koizumi should rethink before he really goes to the shrine so as to avoid damaging Japan's relations with its neighbors and their people again.

(People's Daily 08/10/2001)