Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan reiterated on Friday that
it is in Japan's own interests to express remorse for its
militarist past.
Kong was responding to Friday's visit by some senior Japanese
officials to the Yasukuni Shrine on the anniversary of Japan's
defeat in World War II.
The war of aggression started by the Japanese militarism caused
unprecedented severe disasters in China and other Asian countries,
said Kong, adding the Japanese people also suffered from it.
"A correct attitude towards history will be conducive to the
sound and steady development of the Sino-Japanese good-neighborly
relations as well as to Japan's harmonious coexistence with its
neighbors," said Kong, adding that it ultimately serves the
interests of Japan itself.
The Yasukuni Shrine, located in the suburbs of Tokyo, was built
to honor dead Japanese soldiers. Among those honored were 14
Class-A Japanese war criminals from World War II.
Among those who visited the Yasukuni Shrine were Yoshitada
Konoike, minister in charge of disaster prevention, Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei, Economy, Trade and
Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma, and National Public Safety
Commission Chairman Sadakazu Tanigaki. Fifty-five members of
parliament also paid tribute to the shrine.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi did not go to the
shrine on Friday. According to Kyodo News, Koizumi, who visited the
shrine on January 14, has no plan to do so again this year. Koizumi
has visited the shrine three times since he took office in
2001.
Also on Friday, Koizumi expressed his resolve to help secure
world peace, while expressing remorse for Japan's wartime
aggression at a memorial ceremony marking the 58th anniversary of
the end of World War II, according to a Xinhua News Agency
report.
?(China Daily August 16, 2003)