Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said Friday that China condemns the rhetoric of two Japanese officials who claimed that the crimes of World War II Japanese war criminals have been absolved.

"The Chinese government and people are indignant at their remarks and express strong condemnation," he said.

Masahiro Morioka, parliamentary secretary for health, labor and welfare, and Kyuma Fumio, chairman of the Policy Research Council of Junichiro Koizumi's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Tuesday the Class-A war criminals are no longer regarded as criminals in Japan.

"The ridiculous remarks made by Japanese senior officials are obvious provocation against international justice and human conscience," said Kong. "They seriously hurt the feelings of the people victimized by Japan's militaristic aggression during World War II."

The Class-A war criminals, including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo, "whose hands were stained with the blood of Asians and people in the other parts of the world," have committed monstrous crimes to world peace and humanity, said the spokesman.

The verdicts by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, which convicted 14 Class-A war criminals, constitute a major part of the post-war international political basis, and "any attempt to overthrow the verdicts will not succeed," said Kong.

He warned the "absurd" remarks made by the Japanese politicians are not isolated or incidental.

"People cannot but raise the question: can Japan play a responsible role in the international community?" added Kong.

"We strongly demand the Japanese side take concrete actions to fulfill its commitment to remorse for its history of aggression so that it can really win trust from the international community, especially the people of neighboring Asian nations," said the spokesman.

Separately on Friday Kong said that China firmly opposes a United States defense bill that contains provisions on Taiwan.

"The China-concerned provisions in the US defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2006 severely violate the three Sino-US joint communiques and the one-China policy the US government has reiterated many times," said Kong.

The US House of Representatives voted late Wednesday to approve a US$ 491-billion defense authorization bill for the fiscal year 2006, which starts on October 1. The bill contains provisions for high-level military educational exchanges between the United States and Taiwan.

China urges the US to "clearly recognize the severe harm of these provisions" and prevent them from becoming law. If measures are not taken, the bill could damage the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and pose serious negative impact on the relations and cooperation between the two countries, Kong said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 28, 2005)