Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush on Thursday in Beijing criticized some Japanese for twisting their country's history during World War II (WWII).

Addressing a forum on Chinese science and humanities science in Beijing, Bush said the shrine, which honors Japanese war criminals along with other war dead, distorts WWII history.

Bush, a WWII veteran, criticized the repeated visit to the shrine by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

The materials on the war displayed in the shrine are "deviated from history", he said.

"Our country was attacked -- openly, aggressively, surprisingly by Japan on Dec. 7, 1941, so they ought not to try to deny history," Bush said.

"I think a country, when it makes mistakes like that, should admit them and should work to calm the troubled waters and not exacerbate as Prime Minister Koizumi did when he went to the shrine," Bush said.

As for China, Bush said, the Japanese "did insufferably bad things to the Chinese people.

Source: Xinhua