Japanese officials' visit and donation to Yasukuni Shrine violates historical justice, China says

In response to Japanese officials' donation and visit to the Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday, a Chinese spokesperson said such behavior is an open violation of historical justice and seriously hurts the feelings of people in countries that suffered from Japan's aggression.

Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said the Japanese politicians essentially seek to cover up and deny Japan's responsibility for its aggression while challenging the fruits of the victory over fascism and the postwar international order.

Jiang said the Japanese politicians are paying lip service to pursuing peace on one hand while bowing down before the perpetrators of wartime atrocities on the other. Such hypocrisy fully exposes the deeply distorted historical view of Japan's right-wing forces and their dangerous attempt to revive the specter of militarism, he noted.

Facing up to the history of aggression and deeply reflecting on responsibility for the war are the political foundations for Japan to develop relations with its Asian neighbors, Jiang stressed.

China urges Japan to genuinely learn from the lessons of history, stop its course of regression and refrain from pursuing neo-militarism, he added.

Jiang cautions that if Japan persists in this course and becomes a source of danger and instability to regional peace, it will once again face the judgment of justice and the reckoning of history.

On Saturday, the day marking the 81st anniversary of Japan's unconditional surrender in World War II, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made a monetary offering to Yasukuni Shrine, which enshrines Japanese war criminals during World War II. The shrine represents the glorification of Japanese militarism and wartime aggression. On the same day, Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the shrine, according to reports by Japanese public broadcaster NHK.