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Koizumi's shrine visit triggers furore

P. S. Suryanarayana

SCUFFLES: A protest against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a war shrine, in Seoul on Tuesday. — PHOTO: AP

SINGAPORE: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo on Tuesday touched off a diplomatic furore, with its neighbours, especially China and South Korea, stating that the action would put bilateral relations at risk.

The unprecedented theme of the strong protests from these and other countries was that the evolving East Asian network of friendship and cooperation was now facing strain.

The Shinto shrine deifies over 2.5 million people who laid down their lives for Japan during wars. And, to the chagrin of the international community, those so honoured include 14 who were indicted as Class-A war criminals for their role in the Second World War. Mr. Koizumi had paid homage at the shrine in the past too, but his latest and sixth visit there as Prime Minister coincided with the 61st anniversary of Japan's surrender and the end of Second World War. Some of Japan's neighbours were the worst victims of its imperial era "militarism."

In Japan, at least two among Mr. Koizumi's political associates criticised his action, while he maintained that he had gone to the shrine to reaffirm the "resolve that Japan must not wage war again." His agenda was "not ... to pray for the Class-A war criminals." South Korean Foreign Ministry "sternly" noted "such a nationalistic attitude has worsened South Korea-Japan relations and disturbed northeast Asia's regional cooperation and friendship." Tokyo would now need to "build confidence" for better ties with neighbours.

Echoing the sentiments in Southeast Asia, Singapore said such visits "are not helpful to the common interest of building closer relations and cooperation in East Asia."

China summons envoy

Xinhua reports:

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Miyamoto Yuji here on Tuesday, lodging serious and solemn representations, and strong protests against Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's sixth visit to the Yasukuni shrine.

Mr. Li expressed ``strong indignation'' and ``strong condemnation'' over the visit. ``China strongly requests Japanese leaders to make efforts to remove political barriers and push the Sino-Japanese ties back to the normal development track''.

Mr. Li told Mr. Miyamoto that Mr. Koizumi's repeated visits to the shrine constitute a move that ``challenges the international justice''.

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