AMMAN, Jan. 5 -- China's Ambassador to Jordan Gao Yusheng on Sunday condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the notorious war-linked Yasukuni Shrine labeling it as " very provocative."

"The visit to the shrine is not only provocative to the Chinese people but it also to the neighbor countries," the ambassador said in a press conference in Amman.

"This is a very serious development," he said.

The visit increased tension between the two countries and represents an obstacle to enhancing the ties between China and Japan, said the ambassador.

"The move puts regional and international security in danger," he said.

The ambassador said the U.S. should represent a "much clearer and stronger" position towards the visit to the shrine.

"The visit is a stark violation of the results of the World War II and represents Japan's tendencies towards militarism," he said.

Before World War II, the Yasukuni Shrine served as spiritual attachment for Japanese militarism in its wars of aggression. Today, the facility, which enshrines Class-A war criminals of WWII, whitewashes Japan's history of aggression and disseminates an erroneous historical view against world opinion.