China expresses strong displeasure with Japanese leaders' remarks on Shrine visit

China is "extremely unsatisfied" with the remarks Japanese leaders repeatedly made on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine recently, which go against improving bilateral relations, said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan Monday night.

Kong said the Chinese government attaches great importance to Sino-Japanese relations and has made unremitting efforts to improve and develop bilateral relations. "Vice Premier Wu Yi's visit to Japan is a best demonstration of it."

Wu arrived in Japan last Tuesday for a visit and left the country Monday.

"To our regret, during Vice Premier Wu Yi's stay in Japan, Japanese leaders repeatedly made remarks on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine that go against the efforts to improve Sino-Japanese relations," said Kong. "China is extremely unsatisfied with it."

On May 16, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested that he would visit the Yasukuni Shrine again this year during questioning at the House of Representatives Budget Committee, saying "I don't understand why I should stop visiting the Yasukuni Shrine."

Koizumi said last Friday that when he visits the Yasukuni Shrine he does so as a private individual and not in the capacity as prime minister.

The Yasukuni Shrine honors Japan's war dead, including 14 Class- A war criminals responsible for Japan's aggression before and during World War II.

China considers the shrine visits by Japanese leaders as one of the most difficult issues in current China-Japan political relations, saying the issue reflects what the Japanese government thinks about Japan's history of aggression against other Asian countries.

Kong said, "China sincerely hopes that the two countries could make joint efforts to fulfill Chinese President Hu Jintao's five- point proposal on improving China-Japan relations, so as to bring the relations to the track of healthy and stable development."

President Hu initiated the proposal during a meeting with Koizumi on April 23 in Jakarta.

Vice-Premier Wu Yi and Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono met Monday in Tokyo to exchange views on relations between the two countries.

Wu said she gained an impression of Japanese people's friendship towards Chinese people and their earnest wish to improve relations after attending the China Day held at the Aichi Expo 2005 and during her week-long visit to Japan.

Wu urged the Japanese Government to properly handle the issue of history and stop harming the Sino-Japanese friendship and Chinese people's heart.

The vice-premier said that one of the purposes of her trip was to push for the implementation of the agreement on the development of Sino-Japanese relations reached between the Chinese and Japanese leaders during their meeting at the Jakarta summit and help return the bilateral relations to a path of normal development.

Kono echoed Wu's remarks on bilateral relations, saying the two countries should overcome difficulties and push for the normalizing of ties.

With deepening co-operation, the two sides have become more dependent on each other and grown closer, he said, adding that the further development of relations was important for regional and world stability and prosperity.

By People's Daily Online