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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, January 02, 2004

Koizumi rubs salt into the wound of sufferers on New Year's Day

On the New Year's Day of 2004 Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A World War II criminals such as Hideki Tojo in Tokyo. The news casts a shadow over the New Year celebrations in China and other neighboring countries of Japan.


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Japanese PM Koizumi visits war criminal shrine
On the New Year's Day of 2004 Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Class-A World War II criminals such as Hideki Tojo in Tokyo. The news casts a shadow over the New Year celebrations in China and other neighboring countries of Japan. Official with China's Foreign Ministry summoned Charg�� d'affaires ad Interim of Japan to China and lodged solemn and righteous representations. Strong condemnations constantly burst among Chinese media.

Media abroad also made immediate reports. According to Reuters, though Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine every year since taking the office, it is the first time that he did this on the first day of the year. Comment by the Associate Press held that Japanese Prime Minister chooses a very sensitive period for the visit. British Broadcasting Company thought that Koizumi's doing this is to please the conservatives of the Liberal Democratic Party under his leadership but this act will definitely receive protests from China and other Asian countries which suffered a great deal from their neighbor, Japan's invasion during the World War ��. Japanese Kyodo News said that Koizumi's visit to the shrine will again lead to protests from China and Korea and will pull the suspended mutual summit visits between China and Japan farther apart from resumption.

Koizumi received the interviews by Japanese reporters after his visit and defended his action. His excuse is self-contradictory and full of loopholes. When asked about the reason for the visit, Koizumi answered: "the peace and prosperity of Japan is built upon the sacrifice of people in the war. My visit is to pray for Japan's peace and prosperity." We can't help ask, does the so-called "sacrifice in the war" include those class-A World War �� criminals such as Hideki Tojo? Does it mean that those class-A World War �� criminals also made basic contribution to the peace and prosperity Japan realized after the war?

To the question why visiting on January 1, Koizumi said that visiting shrines on the first day of the New Year is the tradition of the Japanese and many people go to the shrine that day. It is understandable for ordinary people to grieve over their relatives and friends, and many relatives of the dead expressed clearly that they visited the Yasukuni Shrine is merely in memory of their relatives and friends and they are firmly opposed to the Yasukuni Shrine's honoring Class-A war criminals. Chinese people are reasonable and always adhere to the principle of making a difference between Japanese people and a few militarists and that between ordinary people and the right wingers. Ordinary people's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine constitute no key point of the historical issue. The visit of Japanese Prime Minister to the Yasukuni Shrine is by no means only to pay homage to the dead nor is it merely an internal affair of Japan but a question of principle related to how the head of Japanese government understand the history of invasion and the World War II criminals.

When answering what negative impact will his visit have on Japan and its neighbors, Koizumi said: "Every country should honor its history, traditions and customs and I don't want to say more about it. I think (this act) will by and by receive the understanding from neighboring countries." As the government leader of a country, merely emphasizing respect for the history, tradition and customs of his own country is not enough and he should have enough awareness as how to respect the history, traditions and customs of other countries. Chinese leaders have many a time warned Koizumi not to do things that hurt the feelings of Chinese people. Koizumi however, turned a deaf ear to it and have once and again done things that hurt the feelings of Chinese people. Nowadays, Japanese media often mentioned the factor of "national feelings", doesn't Koizumi bear some responsibility for the national feeling of Chinese people being hurt?

Gong Ro-myung, former foreign minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK), commented at Japanese media in December 2003 that some Japanese politicians once and again rubbed salt into the wound of the victims of the Japan's neighboring countries and this will undermine Japan's diplomacy in Asia. At the dawn of the New Year, Koizumi again rubbed salt into the wound of the victims in Japan's neighbors, and this will not only hurt the feelings of the peoples of the neighboring countries but also Japan's diplomacy. It is not only an act breaking faith but also a stupid step isolating Japan from others.

By People's Daily Online


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