China slaps Japan over shrine trips
25/5/2005 8:56
Recent statements by Japanese leaders that they will continue to visit a
controversial war shrine have raised concerns over whether Tokyo "really wants
to seek peaceful development," China's foreign ministry spokesman said in
Beijing yesterday.
"China hopes Japanese leaders will take seriously the
feelings of the Asian countries that fell victim to Japanese militarists,
express their remorse for the tragedy and put what they have promised into
practice," spokesman Kong Quan said.
China's anger, however, will not derail
the schedule for Sino-Japanese negotiations over oil and gas exploration, he
said.
China attaches great importance to its relationship with Japan and has
made unremitting efforts to improve ties between the two countries, Kong said,
pointing to the recent visit by Vice Premier Wu Yi. Wu met with an unprecedented
number of Japanese people from all social strata, Kong said.
"Wu was deeply
impressed by the will of the Japanese people to develop friendly relations with
the Chinese people. She also expressed the strong wishes of the Chinese
government and people to develop friendly relations with Japan from generation
to generation on a healthy and stable basis," he said.
Wu arrived in Japan
last Tuesday but cut short her visit, canceling scheduled talks with Japanese
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Monday.
"To our regret, during Vice
Premier Wu Yi's stay in Japan, Japanese leaders repeatedly made remarks about
visiting the Yasukuni Shrine that go against the efforts to improve
Sino-Japanese relations," Kong said.
On May 16, Koizumi suggested he would go
to the war shrine again this year during questioning at the Japanese House of
Representatives Budget Committee, saying "I don't understand why I should stop
visiting the Yasukuni Shrine."
Koizumi said last Friday that when he visits
the Yasukuni Shrine he does so as a private individual and not in his capacity
as prime minister.
The shrine honors Japan's war dead but also includes 14
Class-A war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression before and during World
War II.
China considers the shrine visits by Japanese leaders to be one of
the most divisive issues between the two countries.
Referring to a
92-year-old Japanese veteran who visited China recently to apologize for his
actions during his country's aggression against China in the 1940s, Kong asked,
"Why couldn't Japanese leaders do similar things, and why couldn't they face up
to history and take responsibility for it?"
Nevertheless, he said,
negotiations between China and Japan on oil and gas exploration in the East
China Sea will be held as scheduled.
"China sincerely hopes the two sides
will work together to implement the five-point proposal on developing
China-Japan relations that Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward during a
meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro in Jakarta last month,
and bring China-Japan relations to the road of healthy and stable development,"
he said.
Xinhua news
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