While claiming to value international coordination and develop friendly relations with Asian countries, the Japanese prime minister recently announced plans to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, which is puzzling to China, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao Thursday.
When asked to comment on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent announcement of the visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, Zhu said that China has reiterated on many occasions that visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese leaders, in essence, concern how the Japanese government looks at and handles its history of aggression.
If the Japanese leader insists on making this wrong decision, his act would ignite the indignation of people in Asian countries who were subject to Japanese militarist aggression during World War II.
(Xinhua 05/31/2001)
