To view the outlook of history from Yasukuni Shrine visit

People's Daily carries an editorial by "Guo Jiping" on August 16, and its excerpts are as follows:

Strained situation that emerged in Sino-Japanese relations over recent years has caused anxiety among the people of both China and Japan and drawn concern of the international community. Chinese President Hu Jintao explained China's policy on March 31 during a meeting with the heads of seven Japan-China friendship organizations. He made it clear that the major obstacle in Sino-Japanese relations was the Japanese leaders' insistence on visiting Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including class A war criminals.

Responsibility does not rest with China or with the people of Japan, Hu said, noting that the crux of the problematic ties between the two countries is that an individual Japanese leader insists on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, a symbol of the country's past militarism, which has hurt the feelings of the Chinese people and damaged the political foundation of Sino-Japanese relations.

President Hu explicitly enunciated the principled stance of the Chinese government. To put an end to the dilemma in the political relations between the two countries, he said, it is essential first of all to resolve the problem concerning the shrine visit that affects the improvement of Sino-Japanese ties, and the Chinese side has exerted itself in many aspects.

But Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi turns a deaf ear to the serious warning and kind persuasions of the Chinese side. Once again he paid homage at the Yasukuni Shrine on August 15, a very special day. This once again hurt the feelings of the people of the victimized countries and also recast a shadow over the Sino-Japanese ties which have been getting a bit warmer and better.

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi paid pilgrimage to the Yasukuni Shrine for six consecutive years in defiance of the opposition by the Chinese government and a series of commitments made by the Japanese government on historical issues. He said repeatedly that his shrine visit "was sincerely for peace," and described it as "Japan's cultural tradition, which brooks no interference".

The Yasukuni Shrine, first built in 1869, now honors Japan's war dead, including Hideki Tojo, and 13 convicted Class A war criminals in the World War II, who directly participated in and took the command of the war of aggression against China.

The dispute centered on the shrine visit is, in essence, a trial of strength between the correct and erroneous outlooks on history, and the repeated visit of Japanese political figures to the Yasukuni Shrine indicated their persistence to the erroneous outlook of history and reverie of Japanese militarism and even with a label of "traditional Japanese culture."

The Chinese people cannot accept the fact about the visits of the Japanese government leaders to the Yasukuni Shrine which honors Class A war criminals, who were notorious butchers, and boosts the arrogance of Japanese militarism.

The opposition of the international community and the people in China, the Republic of Korea and other Asian nations, which were subjected to the aggression of war, to the Japanese leaders' shrine visit epitomizes the serious, responsible attitude toward history. Fundamentally, the people of these countries hope that Japan will discard the erroneous outlook on history, respect history and draw lessons from history, so as to prevent tragedy in history from being restaged. In paying homage at the Yasukuni Sthrine, Koizumi has his own deep-rooted political consideration instead of taking it as a small matter of "personal 'soul issue'".

China has always attached importance to Sino-Japanese ties, and is ready to advance the bilateral relations wholeheartedly, but it will never retreat on major issues of principles. Whoever bent on to be a conceited nationalist and a pioneer in reviving militarism will only have one outcome, that is, to distance Japan from the normal track of Sino-Japanese friendship and eventually isolate the country from the rest of Asia and the world at large.

To forget history means betrayal; to tamper with history means the start to follow the same disastrous road.

Nearly 61 years after the conclusion of WWII, the atrocities committed by the Japanese troops during their aggression of China remain fresh in the memories of the Chinese people despite the lapse of time. People of conscience of the international community will not forget those bloody years, either. "To forget massacre means the occurrence of the second massacre." In this sense, the Yasukuni Shrine and the erroneous outlook on history it trumpeted are intolerable for China and other countries which once suffered from aggression of Japanese militarists.

As is known to all, Japan gradually embarked on a road of militarism since the latter half of the 19th century. It launched and took part in a series of wars of aggression, most of them against China. In nearly a century, the brutal intrusions by Japanese militarists have inflicted untold suffering upon the long-standing Chinese civilization and tremendous losses upon the Chinese nation. Especially during the war of all-out aggression against China after 1937, Japanese troops slaughtered Chinese soldiers and civilians, looted labors, raped women and wrecked their health, waged bacteriological and chemical warfare and committed a series of inhuman, towering crimes including the infamous Nanjing Massacre.

Up till now, a huge quantity of chemical bombs remain untracked on the Chinese land. Incomplete statistics indicate more than 35 million military and civilian casualties in China during WWII. Calculated on 1937 specific value, China suffered a direct economic loss of more than 100 billion US dollars with an indirect economic loss of over 500 billion dollars.

After the victory of the war, the Far East International Military Tribunal and military tribunals in countries including China and the Soviet Union put Japanese criminals of war on trial, thus meting out due punishment to those criminal chieftains whose hands were stained with bloods of people in various countries. Through the trials, international justice has been upheld and human dignity defended. The trials are historical ones that represent the common aspiration of the peace-loving people across the world, and any attempt to challenge these trials of justice will run counter to popular will.

Despite the profound national catastrophes brought by Japanese militarism, the Chinese government and people, with its widest breadth of vision, have displayed the utmost kindness and mercy. They returned more than 2 million Japanese prisons of war (POWs) and their families and later released POWs detained in China and renounced government claim to war compensation. Facts have eloquently witnessed that China treats Japan with honesty and benevolence, and precisely for this reason her behavior consequently drew unanimous international acclamations.

So much for what China has done. What China expects, however, is merely Japan's attitude of facing history squarely and telling truth, a complete history to nationals in a honest manner, instead of telling distorted or segmented history in a false way, so that the generations to come can draw lessons and achieve future peace and friendship on that basis. After the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries, bilateral ties have, on the whole, been developing on a positive and healthy track despite occasional frictions.

Entering the 21st century, however, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visit to the Yasukuni Shrine has continuously hurt the feeling of the Chinese people and cast a dark shadow over the development of Sino-Japanese relations.

China and Japan are close neighbors that are separated by only a strip of water. In an era of opportunities and challenges, the development of good-neighborly relations is in the fundamental interests of the two peoples and is also beneficial for peace, stability and prosperity of Asia and the world. More and more people of insight have come to realize that the Sino-Japanese relations should be improved and political obstacles removed. The latest poll in Japan also indicated that more than 50 percent of the Japanese nationals are in opposition to the shrine visit.

A country of the same experiences with Japan, Germany had courageously cast off its heavy historical burden as early as decades ago. Today's reconciliation in Europe is closely related to Germany's deep confession on war crimes and serious repentance. Germans has separated their national dignity and honor with the Nazi empire and Hitler, and no defense for Nazi and Hitler is permitted from media to textbook. In contrast, a handful of Japanese right-wingers have been obstinately linking Japanese pride and dignity with the downfall of militarism and war criminals long condemned.

The dilemma or difficult situation between China and Japan conforms neither with the fundamental interests of the people of the two nations nor with expectations of the international community. In the past 34 years since the normalization of Sino-Japanese diplomatic ties, the Chinese government has spared no effort in pushing forward the bilateral ties and never changed its basic principle of friendship with Japan. Our emphasis on keeping history in mind doesn't mean to extend the hatred, but to "take history as a mirror and look into the future".

When meeting with the seven Japan-China friendship organizations based in Japan, President Hu Jintao stressed that Chinese leaders would be ready to engage in meeting and having dialogues with Japanese counterparts over the improvement of the ties as long as the latter decides on stopping visiting the Yasukuni shrine. Hu's stance pointed out the direction of mending ties and showed Chinese sincerity in resolving present problems and promoting friendship.

The China-Japan political ties have came to a deadlock with the shrine visits by a very few Japanese leaders. The shrine visit is an issue that cannot be detoured if Japanese leaders really look forward to improving ties with neighbors. Apart from the Chinese government and people, the people of other victimized Asia nations like the ROK and also the people of Japan themselves all expect Japanese leaders to take concrete actions with courage and sincerity and overcome political obstacles so as to bring the bilateral ties onto a sound track on an early date.

By People's Daily Online