Japanese association condemns shrine visits and distorted history textbooks

The Japanese association Fushun Miracle Successor issued in Beijing Wednesday a statement condemning Japanese leaders' annual Yasukuni Shrine visits and Japan's "distorted history textbooks" and called for increased communication between China and Japan.

"The relationship between China and Japan now faces its hardest challenge since official diplomatic relation was established in 1972," the statement said.

"Japanese leaders should acknowledge the country's aggressive military history not just on the paper, but should seek to correct its wartime crimes to improve the credibility of Japanese government," it said.

It also denounced the Japanese right wing's distortion of the country's history textbooks and appealed to Japanese schools not to use the "twisted" book.

"We are here to let Chinese people know that not all Japanese agree with what the politicians say and do," said Kumagai Shinitirou, secretary general of the association. "Those people who deny the truth is only the small part of the Japanese people."

Japan's attitude toward its history "is directly related to its future and its image in the hearts of the people of its Asian neighboring countries. Japan can not survive without sincerely introspection," he said.

"We want to help Japan and Japanese people in line with their long-term interests," he said.

The 500-member association was established in 2002 to replace the association of the Japanese returned from China, which was set up 1957 by prisoners of war once detained in China's Fushun and Taiyuan to safeguard peace and promote Sino-Japanese relationship.