China Protests Against Japanese Prime Minister's Ritual Offering To Yasukuni Shrine

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2022) Beijing lodged a strong protest with Tokyo against Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine, which is associated with Japanese militarism in Asian countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Kishida sent a ceremonial tree to the controversial temple earlier in the day on the occasion of the Shinto autumn festival, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.

"The Chinese side strongly protests Japan's negative actions linked with the Yasukuni Shrine and has already made a strong representation to the Japanese side," Wang told a briefing.

China called on Japan to completely "sever ties with the militaristic past" and earn the trust of neighboring countries in Asia, as well as the world community, the spokesperson added.

Located in central Tokyo, the Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine founded in 1869 to commemorate those fallen in service of Japan. The shrine lists information about some 2.5 million people and animals that died while fighting for Japan, including over 1,000 war criminals, with 14 of them being A-Class convicts � those who have been convicted of planning, preparing, or waging wars.

Since 2013, Japan's prime ministers have refrained from visiting the shrine. Shinzo Abe was the last prime minister of the Asian nation to visit the shrine personally, as his visit in December 2013 caused a strong negative reaction in China and South Korea and led to a cooling in ties with the United States. Japan's prime ministers have since only sent offerings to the shrine.