Shrine visit mirrors unrepentant view of wartime aggression

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent homage at a controversial war-linked shrine mirrors the unrepentant view of Japan's wartime aggression and undermines his stated aim to increase Japan's engagement in safeguarding world peace, Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai said Thursday.

In an opinion piece published on The Washington Post website, Cui said the dispute over Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine is about more than symbolism because it reveals his real intention for Japan's future and casts doubt upon his willingness to build an atmosphere of trust, respect and equality in East Asia.

On Dec. 26, Abe visited the shrine that honors Japan's war dead including 14 Class-A convicted war criminals of WWII, triggering strong protests and indignation from its neighbors, including China and South Korea, which had suffered from Japan's brutal military aggression.

Those war criminals include former prime minister Hideki Tojo, who launched the attack on Pearl Harbor and started the war in the Pacific that cost millions of lives, and commanders of the Nanking massacre in China in which some 300,000 people were killed.

"The recent homage cannot be separated from the prime minister's denial of Japan's wartime atrocities, and it colors his initiative to revise Japan's constitution to transform its Self-Defense Forces into a military force capable of projecting power outside Japan," wrote Cui, former Chinese ambassador to Japan from 2007 to 2009.

"This aggressive posture imperils regional security and economic prosperity," Cui said. "Japan's acceptance of and repentance for its war crimes would build a foundation for peace and security in the world's most economically dynamic region."