China and South Korea protest but Japanese cabinet members have the anniversary of the surrender in World War II visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine. Where convicted war criminals are honored. The fear of the shift to the right of the government grows.
Almost 68 years ago that Japan surrendered in World War II. To commemorate this day, several members of the government have visited the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. There are 2.5 million deaths honored – but also several war criminals who were convicted of atrocities in China. The visits to the memorial are therefore extremely controversial.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the Japanese ambassador to protest against the handling of Japan with the World War II history. The official Xinhua news agency accused the Japanese government to have gone too far with her troubling shift to the right. Japan’s neighbors are afraid of “a dangerous revival of its militaristic past.”
A spokesman for the South Korean Foreign Ministry had said in advance of the pilgrimage:. “Our government and our people will never accept these visits”
Yasukuni means “bring peace to the nation.” The shrine was built in 1869 at the request of Emperor Meiji. In a museum of war and military history on the shrine grounds, the Second World War is justified and glorified. The souls who are commemorated, are considered souls of heroes, not victims. Especially China and South Korea suffered from Japanese aggression in World War II.
The relations between Japan and China are already strained, countries fight over a group of islands in the East China Sea. Probably for this reason renounced the right-wing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on a journey to the shrine. However, Japanese news agencies reported that he had donated ritual objects – and regret not being able to make a pilgrimage to the shrine.
The conservative government in Tokyo is considering an amendment to its constitution, will finally regular armed forces – and it goes so to Nazi comparisons. Prime Minister Abe has since the end of December 2012 at the office and upgraded since then with words and weapons against China. Even the protective power of the USA was afraid of taking office, the Abe Cabinet could increase tensions in East Asia.
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