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Japanese ministers visit shrine, China regrets
(Agences)
Updated: 2004-08-15 13:29
China expressed its "deepest regret" for Japanese
politicians' visit to the Yasukuni shrine on Sunday. Foreign Ministry
spokesman Kong Quan used "negative hehavior" to describe the visit.
"We express our deep regret for the negative behavior adopted by a handful of
political figures in Japan," Kong said in a statement.
"The Chinese side hopes the Japanese side will honor its word by facing up to
history ... and not take actions that hurt the feelings of the Chinese people
and peoples of other countries that were victims."
THREE MINISTERS VISIT SHRINE
On August 15, three Japanese ministers paid homage at a controversial shrine for war dead
Sunday, the 59th anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender, a move likely to
anger Asian nations.
The annual visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by critics as a symbol of
the militarist regime that led Japan into war, was more charged than usual given
the present participation of Japanese troops in a humanitarian mission to Iraq,
their riskiest overseas mission since the war.
Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, Agriculture Minister Yoshiyuki Kamei, and
National Public Safety Commission chairwoman Kiyoko Ono were among a number of
politicians who paid homage at the shrine. Yasukuni is dedicated to the 2.5
million Japanese who have died in wars since 1853, including a number of
convicted war criminals.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has outraged Japan's Asian neighbors
with his annual visits to the shrine, marked the end of the war at separate
secular ceremonies.
"We want to make an active contribution to world peace and will do our utmost
to gain a higher level of trust from the world," Koizumi said at a memorial
ceremony, in what domestic media said was a reference to his determination to
keep troops in Iraq.
Koizumi, who last went to Yasukuni on January 1, pledged earlier this week to
visit the shrine again next year. He avoids Aug. 15, an emotive date for Asian
nations that suffered from Japan's wartime aggression.
Past visits by Koizumi and his ministers have hampered ties with Asian
neighbors, particularly China.
A tentative plan for the prime minister to travel to China in 2002 came to
nothing after Beijing was infuriated by his shrine visit that year, and analysts
also said that the visits were a factor behind the hostility of Chinese soccer
fans toward the Japanese team at last week's Asian Cup soccer tournament.
"Our country inflicted enormous loss and suffering on many countries,
particularly in Asia," Koizumi said at the ceremony. "As Japan's representative,
I would like to reflect on that."
EMOTIONALLY CHARGED
This year the anniversary was more emotionally charged than usual, given
increasing calls for Japan to revise its pacifist constitution.
Friday, Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Japan must consider
revising the constitution if it wants to become a permanent member of the U.N.
Security Council.
Article Nine of the postwar, U.S.-drafted constitution renounces the right to
go to war and forbids a military, although it is interpreted as permitting
forces for self-defense.
"If Japan is going to play a full role on the world stage and become a full
active participating member of the Security Council, and have the kind of
obligations that it would pick up as a member....Article Nine would have to be
examined in that light," Powell was quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying in an
interview with Japanese media in Washington Thursday.
He added that the decision about whether to modify or change the constitution
was entirely up to the Japanese people.
Powell's remarks echo those made by Deputy Secretary of State Richard
Armitage to a visiting Japanese lawmaker last month.
Both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party
are working on proposals to revise the constitution, but many ordinary citizens
and lawmakers are opposed. An opinion poll in May showed that 70 percent of
Japanese lawmakers were against revising Article Nine.
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