Abe's shrine visit affronts world

Shinzo Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine that honors 14 World War II Class A war criminals on Thursday, making him the first sitting Japanese prime minister in seven years to set foot in the shrine.

The Yasukuni Shrine is a symbol of Japanese aggression in WWII. The prime minister's provocative visit is a political act, which highlights his wrong understanding of Japan's militarist past and dangerous political orientation. The visit in essence is a flagrant provocation to the peace-loving people of the entire world, a gross trampling upon historical justice and human decency, and an outrageous challenge to the post-war international order and the international community.

Top among the reasons for Abe's shrine visit is his political stance, the core of which is desire to overthrow the international community's trial of Japanese militarism and get rid of its image as a vanquished country in a bid to develop the country into a major political power with strong and independent military strength.

Abe's political stance has been fully exposed in his book Towards a Beautiful Country: My Vision For Japan and a series of speeches. In his childhood, Abe was deeply influenced by his grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, who succeeded in turning himself from a war criminal into the prime minister. Abe inherited Kishi's political ideas. But different from his grandfather's gray wisdom, Abe prefers to express his outlook without any disguise. So it's not hard to understand he has committed some transgressions in revealing his own political ambitions.

Interest groups that have a close relationship with Abe, mainly some right-wing groups and right-leaning politicians and businessmen, have also played a role in bringing about Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine. These people gave Abe support and encouragement after he resigned as prime minister in 2007. Now in power once again, Abe is bound to repay them and must work under pressure from right-wing groups and right-leaning interest groups.

Abe has repeatedly expressed his regret that he did not pay his respects at the shrine during his first term in office and said he would deliver on this political commitment at an appropriate time. Finally, despite Tokyo's diplomatic tensions with Beijing and Seoul, he entered the shrine on the first anniversary of the day he started his second term as prime minister.

Shifting the focus of domestic contradictions was also smugly calculated into Abe's decision. Domestically, the nuclear pollution accident has not been effectively controlled and a final solution is still a distant hope. The newly introduced state secrecy act has provoked concerns about muzzling the media and curtailing public access to information on issues such as the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Though Abe's economic policy has produced a short-term effect in lowering the exchange rate and boosting the stock market, there is no progress on the adjustment of structural problems. Japan's economic outlook in 2014 is still not optimistic. In the face of shrinking domestic support and a negative evaluation of his performance over the past year, Abe needed to do something to distract people's attention.

Abe's shrine visit again brazenly affronted Chinese people and the people of other victimized countries and aggravated relations with Japan's neighbors. Countries that once suffered from Japanese militarist aggression established diplomatic relations and now carry out civil exchanges with Japan on the premise that it admits its past aggression and adheres to the correct view of history. Therefore, having a right attitude toward history is a major principle that bears on the political foundation of Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors and is a moral baseline for civil exchanges.

Abe's shrine visit will further exacerbate the tense situation in East Asia, and it has already given rise to high vigilance among the international community, especially China.

In order to achieve its political power dream, the Abe cabinet has approved a new national security strategy, new National Defense Program Guidelines and a Mid-Term Defense Program that will use the "China threat" as a pretext to strengthen its independent military capability, maximize Japan's role in the US-Japan alliance, set up and play a leading role in an "ocean alliance" surrounding China, and strive for hegemony in Asia.

In the face of Japan's military buildup under Abe's wrong view of history, China and other victimized countries have to raise their vigilance and make good preparations to respond, even the United States should take precautions against Japan's intentions. Washington has repeatedly reminded the Abe administration to take no risks. During the US-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting held in October, Washington contained Tokyo's demand for "proactive pacifism" or "proactive contribution to peace", which aims to expand Japan's military role by undermining the Japanese Constitution.

Therefore, China, the Republic of Korea and other victimized countries should join hands in responding to Japan's dangerous tendency and actions that continue to exacerbate regional security situation. When necessary, response measures can be brought into the US-China strategic dialogue.

The author is director of the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences