The Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi said on Thursday that
Japanese leaders' visits to the Yasukuni Shrine are the major
stumbling block to the development of Sino-Japanese relations.
Wang said at a press conference that China always abides by the
policy of good-neighborliness and friendship with Japan.
Chinese leaders have made it clear that they hoped, based on the
three joint political documents, the two countries will coexist
peacefully, be friends from generation to generation and conduct
mutually-beneficial cooperation for common development, Wang
said.
But it is regrettable that views on historical issues reflected
by visits to the shrine are still preventing healthy development of
bilateral relations.
Wang said that the core of the issue is that the facility
enshrines Class-A war criminals who masterminded and commanded
Japan's aggressive war.
The shrine, however, still sticks to the idea that the war
launched by Japan in Asia was for self-defense and that the Pacific
War was to counter offensives from countries including the US. The
shrine also challenges the legitimacy of the ruling made by the
International Military Tribunal of the Far East by claiming the war
criminals were innocent, he said.
How to deal with issues concerning Class-A war criminals is not
only Japan's internal affair, but is related to the political
foundation for the resumption of Sino-Japanese relations, Japan's
post-war reconstruction and the international order established
after World War II, Wang said.
The issue also involves other Asian countries plagued by Japan's
aggressive war as well as the international community at large,
Wang said.
The ambassador said the Chinese people are tolerant and the
Chinese government released Japanese war prisoners jailed in China
and waived its claims for damages.
China has no objection to visits to the shrine by ordinary
Japanese people to hold memorial ceremonies for their deceased
relative, he said, but if Japanese leaders pay homage to the shrine
honoring the war criminals, they will greatly hurt the feeling of
the Chinese people and damage the political foundation of the two
countries' diplomatic relations.
Their practice is obviously unacceptable to the Chinese side, he
added.
He said China has opposed visits to the shrine by Japanese
leaders since it came to light in 1985 that it honors Class-A war
criminals.
In 1986, the then Japanese chief cabinet secretary, on behalf of
the Japanese government, made an official statement, saying that
Japan's prime minister would give up the practice due to
comprehensive considerations, Wang said, adding that on historical
issues, Japan should keep moving forward rather than retreating
from this stance.
(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2005)