Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Monday the Yasukuni shrine which honors Japan's World War II war criminals.

The visit was the fifth since he took office in 2001.

The shrine enshrines 14 Class-A war criminals as well as about 2 million Japanese war dead.

The premier's previous visits have resulted in strong criticism from Japan's neighboring countries, especially China and South Korea, making the issue the major stumbling block for developing smoothly relations with the two countries.

Wang Yi, Chinese ambassador to Japan, said when commenting on Koizumi's visit to the shrine that the Chinese government opposes Japanese PM Koizumi's visit "at any time, in any form" to the shrine where Class-A war criminals were enshrined.

Ambassador Wang stressed that Koizumi must bear the historical responsibility for damaging the China-Japan relations.

By People's Daily Online