Shrine offering, visit a blatant provocation to victimized nations

The recent ritual offering by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo and the ensuing noisy visit to the notorious facility are but a blatant provocation to the victimized nations and a threat to post-World War II order.

About 160 Japanese lawmakers from a nonpartisan group, in a swaggering display of provocation and aggression, worshipped the Yasukuni Shrine on Friday morning to mark the so-called "autumn festival".

Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato unscrupulously paid homage earlier in the day at the shrine, which honors 14 convicted Class-A World War II war criminals among 2.5 million war dead.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, though not visiting the shrine personally, sent his ritual offering to the shrine Thursday.

Such brazenly provocative moves are meant to undermine relations and overturn the post-World War II order. For the nations victimized by Japan's war-time aggression, the Yasukuni Shrine has proven to be a symbol and spiritual tool of Japanese militarism.

In reality, the Yasukuni Shrine consecrates heinous crimes committed against victimized nations including China by Japanese war criminals including the 14 Class A war criminals.

In 1946, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo Trials, was convened to try Japanese war criminals in implementation of the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration, the Instrument of Surrender and the Moscow Conference. In particular, the Potsdam Declaration had called for trials and purges of those who had "deceived and misled" the Japanese people into war.

As a result of the Tokyo Trials, 14 Class A Japanese war criminals including war-time Prime Minister Hideki Tojo were found guilty of war crimes. Seven of them were hanged.

Today, however, it is the Yasukuni Shrine that enshrines and honors the 14 Class-A war criminals, et al.

Frequent visits and offering to the Yasukuni Shrine are just meant to deny Japan's war-time atrocities and the verdicts of the Tokyo Trials. Therefore, they are a major matter of principle bearing on the foundation of China-Japan relations.

The visits are the latest moves by Japanese politicians to whitewash

Japan's history of aggression and challenge the end result of World War II,

as well as the post-war world order established by International law.

These actions have raised resentment in countries such as China and South Korea, which suffered severely under Japan's war-time aggression.

Both China and South Korea have repeatedly warned Japanese politicians not to visit the shrine.

The recurring visits and offerings by the many Japanese politicians underlines a troubling, deep-rooted unwillingness to sincerely reflect on a dark chapter in Japanese history, and they effectively kill any chance for Japan to mend its strained ties with neighboring countries.

Their actions also carry big risks for Japan as the country will find itself increasingly isolated in a region that has emerged as a major engine of global economic growth.

Japanese politicians like Abe, who have vowed to inject vigor into the country's doormant economy, will actually hurt it as business and trade opportunities dry up amid historical and territorial rows.