Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing summoned Japanese Ambassador to
China Miyamoto Yuji in Beijing Tuesday, lodging serious and solemn
representations, and strong protests against Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sixth visit to the war
criminals-honoring Yasukuni Shrine.
Li said he expresses "strong indignation" and "strong
condemnation" over the visit.
"China strongly requests Japanese leaders to make efforts to
remove political barriers and push the Sino-Japanese ties back to
the normal development track at an early date," he said.
Li told Miyamoto that Koizumi's repeated visit to the Yasukuni
Shrine is a move that "challenges the international justice" and
"tramples the conscience of mankind," Li said.
The class-A war criminals honored in the Yasukuni Shrine were
hatchers and directors of Japanese militarists' aggression, and
chief criminals responsible for the great calamity imposed on Asia
and the world in the modern history, the foreign minister said.
Koizumi insisted on his visit to the shrine despite strong
protests from the international community, Japan's Asian neighbors
as well as Japanese people.
"His move severely hurt the feelings of the people of the victim
countries, and undermined the political foundation of the
China-Japan relations," he said.
Noting China is the biggest victim of Japanese militarists'
aggression, Li said, "To correctly understand and treat that part
of history constituted the political basis for the resumption and
development of the China-Japan relations after the war, and the
important preconditions for the two countries to face up to the
future."
However, Koizumi, sticking to a wrong stance, has repeatedly
hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and seriously violated the
three Sino-Japanese political documents, Li said.
His move has also made him lose credit to the international
community and the Japanese people alike, and undermined Japan's
state image and interests, the foreign minister said.
Li said the Chinese government and people attaches great
importance to the development of Sino-Japanese friendship and
cooperation.
"We will continue to join hands with the Japanese statesmen and
people who cherish and engage in the Sino-Japanese friendship, and
make efforts for China-Japan long-term friendship and common
development, based on the three Sino-Japanese political documents
and in the spirit of 'learning from the history and facing up to
the future,'" he said.
China strongly requests the Japanese government and leaders to
follow the historical trend, remove political barriers and push
Sino-Japanese relations back to the normal development track at an
early date, Li said.
He stressed there are soaring voices from the international
community and within Japan itself opposing Koizumi's shrine visit,
which has demonstrated that his act is "unpopular."
To remove political barriers and push bilateral ties back to the
normal development track at an early date is the right way that
meet the common aspiration of the two peoples and the fundamental
interests of the two countries.
Meanwhile, person in charge of China-Japan Friendship
Association issued a written statement Tuesday to oppose Koizumi's
shrine visit.
"His act has severely hurt the feelings of people in China and
other Asian countries, which were victimized by Japanese
militarists, and undermined the political foundation of China-Japan
relations," the statement says.
"We express our uttermost indignation and strong protest over
his wrong deeds," it says.
As everybody knows, the statement says, Yasukuni Shrine is the
ideological prop and a tool of the Japanese militarists when
launching aggression before the World War II.
It still honors 14 class-A war criminals including Hideki Tojo,
whose hands were stained with the blood of the people in China and
other victim countries, it says.
"Koizumi's doing resurrects Japan's wartime militarism,
challenges the international justice and tramples the conscience of
human beings," the statement says.
Development of the Sino-Japanese relations conforms to the
fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples, it
says.
"We are ready to join hands with Japanese personages from all
walks of life, and make concerted efforts to remove obstacles in
bilateral ties and promote friendly exchanges between the two
peoples," the statement says.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement earlier
Tuesday, strongly protesting Koizumi's visit again to the Yasukuni
Shrine.
More than 30 Chinese people gathered outside the Japanese
embassy in Beijing Tuesday morning, protesting against Koizumi's
shrine visit.
(Xinhua News Agency August 15, 2006)
