During his over five year tenure as Japan's prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi has worshiped at the infamously war-linked Yasukuni Shrine six times, not only making Japan's relations with China and South Korea reach a low ebb, but also leading Japan's Asia diplomacy into an impasse.

The Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo honors 14 Class-A war criminals who were commanders and leaders when Japan waged its war of aggression during WWII. By his repeatedly and formally paying respect to their memory at the shrine, Japan's leader has severely hurt the feelings of Asian people who suffered from Japanese military aggression and atrocities both before and during WWII. Therefore, the Japanese leader can be counted as fully responsible for the worsening of bilateral ties between China and Japan.

Koizumi's unwise actions were also condemned in Japan. Following his shrine visit on August 15 this year, Koichi Kato, former Secretary General of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said that Japan's diplomacy in Asia was almost in a state of paralysis and Koizumi's shrine visit had been an important factor. "Actions regarding diplomacy cannot be resolved with words like 'spiritual matter'," he said.

Mizuho Fukushima, head of the Social Democratic Party, said that the prime minister's visit had damaged Japan's present and future relations with other Asian countries. She said it was natural that China condemned Koizumi's shrine visits and was concerned over how Japan viewed its war of aggression 60 years ago.

Makoto Iokibe, president of National Defense Academy of Japan, said in a recent article that Koizumi's war shrine visits had led to the worsening of its foreign relations, and had harmed Japan's "credit" and "foreign assets."

To remove the aftereffect of Koizumi's shrine visits is the hope of most Japanese people.

A survey released by Japan's foreign ministry in March showed that 77.9 percent of the respondents agreed that the damaged ties with China should be repaired.

Recent public surveys by Japanese media also indicated that most people oppose the shrine visits by the next prime minister and they hope the new leader can endeavor to improve relations with China and South Korea.

Further, most people in Japan's business circles also strongly support the idea that Japan's new prime minister should solve the shrine visit issue as soon as possible and help create favorable conditions for trade and business between Japan and China.

Worsening political relations served neither Japan's nor China's interests. As pointed out by Japan's Communist Party chairman Kazuo Shii, damages to Japan's national interests would be immeasurable if visits to the Yasukuni shrine by Japan's leaders became national policy.

Source: Xinhua