China on Friday expressed concern over reports that Japanese
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine in
April, Foreign Ministry spokesman said.
"We hope that the Japanese side will make similar efforts along
with the Chinese side to push Sino-Japanese ties back to the track
of normal development at an early date," spokesman Qin Gang said
while asked for comments.
"It is a common aspiration of the two peoples and conforms with
the fundamental interest of the two countries for Japanese leaders
to stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, where World War II criminals
were worshiped, and take tangible action to eliminate political
obstacles hindering the normal development of Sino-Japanese
relations," Qin said.
There are reports on Friday that Abe visited the Yasukuni
Shrine?on April 15 this year, where WWII Class-A war criminals
were worshiped.
Japanese Prime minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the Shinto
shrine for five times since taking office in April 2001.
Those visits stirred up strong indignation among Asian people
who suffered from atrocities of Japanese aggression before and
during the WWII.
According to a memorandum, written by late Imperial Household
Agency Grand Steward Tomohiko Tomita, the late Japanese Emperor
Hirohito also expressed strongly his displeasure in 1988 over
Yasukuni Shrine's decision in the late 1970s to include Class-A war
criminals of World War II into its honor list.
"If Abe, a candidate of the next Japanese prime minister,
continued to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, it will pose a severe
challenge to the recovery of China-Japan relations," said Huo
Jiangang, a researcher with the China Institute of Contemporary
International Relations.
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(Xinhua News Agency August 5, 2006)