The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on Japan to face history and make a clean break with militarism, after Japanese media disclosed internal meeting minutes revealing the decision-making process behind the enshrinement of Class-A war criminals at the notorious Yasukuni war shrine.

The documents proved once again that the Japanese government at the time knew full well the disgrace of enshrining Class-A war criminals and, fearful of the consequences, deliberately kept the decision-making process secret, said spokesperson Mao Ning at a daily press briefing.

The minutes, disclosed for the first time by Japanese media, show that the Japanese government made arrangements with the shrine as early as in the 1960s on the enshrinement of the 14 Class-A war criminals – including Hideki Tojo, the most atrocious war criminal who served as Japanese prime minister between 1941 and 1944 – but chose to keep the public in the dark until it was revealed in 1979.

"These Class-A war criminals were the chief culprits behind Japanese militarists' war of aggression with the blood of innumerable war victims on their hands," Mao said.

The solemn verdict of the Tokyo Trials condemned them to perpetual infamy, thereby upholding international justice and laying the legal foundation for the postwar international order, she noted.

Noting that those running the Japanese government have again and again paid respects to what is in fact a shrine to war criminals, the spokespersons said, "One has to ask: Where has the conscience gone?"

"History shall not be rewritten. Truth shall not be erased," she said. "Japan committed undeniable crimes during its militarist aggression."

Those running the Japanese government must face history squarely, reflect on the war crimes, and make a genuine break with its militarist past, said the spokesperson.