‘Learn from the past,’ China’s top diplomat asks Japan to face wartime history

ISTANBUL

China on Friday blasted “some forces” in Japan for denying its militaristic past to "whitewash" the aggression, urging Tokyo to face its wartime history.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that even after 80 years since the surrender of Japan in World War II, “some forces in Japan continue to attempt to deny the aggression, distort and falsify history, and even rehabilitate the accusations of war criminals,” according to a ministry statement.

His statement came as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba pledged that his country will never again take the path to war, expressing “remorse” over World War II.

However, Ishiba sent his offering to a war-linked controversial Yasukuni shrine on World War II anniversary, while Agricultural Minister Shinjiro Koizumi personally visited the shrine.

The Yasukuni shrine has been a source of tension between Japan and its neighbors, particularly South Korea and China.

“80 years ago, today, Japan was defeated, and it declared unconditional surrender. The war of aggression launched by Japanese militarists brought untold suffering to the people of China and other Asian countries, and the Japanese people suffered deeply as well,” Wang recalled.

He said a series of international documents, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration, clearly defined Japan's war responsibility and demanded that Japan return the territories it had stolen from China, including Taiwan.

“This is the unchallengeable victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and an integral part of the post-war international order,” said Wang, referring to World War II.

However, he criticized “some forces” in Japan who, Wang said, “distort” history.

“This behavior is despicable and self-humiliating, challenging the UN Charter, the post-war international order, human conscience, and the people of all victorious nations,” said Wang.

“Only by facing history squarely can we gain respect; only by learning from history can we forge ahead into the future; and only by remembering the past can we prevent further missteps. We urge Japan to make the right choice,” he added.

Later on the day, Liu Jinsong, the Chinese Foreign Ministry's director general of the Department of Asian Affairs, summoned Yokochi Akira, chief minister of the Japanese embassy, to lodge solemn representations with Tokyo over the politicians' visit to the shrine, according to a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.