China's Xi says Japan friendship 'worth cherishing'

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China's Xi says Japan friendship 'worth cherishing'
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) May 23, 2015

China raps Japan for PM's wife's war shrine visit
Beijing (AFP) May 22, 2015 - China on Friday renewed its call for Japan to "face up to" its 20th century history after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife visited a shrine Beijing sees as a symbol of Tokyo's warring past.

Akie Abe announced on her Facebook page Thursday that she "paid respects" at the Yasukuni Shrine and visited the sanctuary's museum, which its critics say glorifies Japan's actions during World War II.

"My heart aches when reading letters and farewell notes addressed to family members," she wrote. "What was in their minds when they perished in the battle fields?"

The prime minister's wife added that she wanted to "do my part for world peace".

"Seventy years since the War. Japan has a large role to play," she wrote.

The Yasukuni Shrine honours Japan's fallen soldiers, but also several Class A war criminals convicted and executed after the conflict.

Beijing's foreign ministry condemned the visit Friday, with spokesman Hong Lei telling reporters: "We once again urge the Japanese side to face up to, and deeply reflect upon, its history of aggression and make a clean break with militarism."

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have deteriorated in recent years over territorial disputes and attitudes towards wartime history.

The countries are trying to rebuild ties but China's Communist leaders remain wary of Shinzo Abe's nationalist views.

A 3,000-member Japanese delegation, led by Toshihiro Nikai, the chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's General Council, is currently visiting China to "deepen mutual understanding and trust", according to reports.

More than 100 Japanese lawmakers went to the Yasukuni shrine last month to coincide with its spring festival.

Abe, who has not visited since December 2013, sent a symbolic offering of a small tree at the time, sparking anger from Beijing and Seoul.

China's President Xi Jinping struck a friendly tone on relations with Japan Saturday, but touched on disputes over history which still add to tensions between the East Asian giants.

Ties between Beijing and Tokyo have warmed over the past year, but strains over territorial disputes and attitudes towards wartime history persist.

Xi told a forum in Beijing that "peace and friendly cooperation between China and Japan is the common will of the people, and the general trend of events".

He added that "friendship" between the countries "deserves cherishing and protecting," at the event, attended by Japanese delegates including former economy minister Toshihiro Nikai.

High-level meetings between China and Japan were suspended for two years amid a row over disputed islands until Xi and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met last year. They held talks again last month.

During his Beijing visit, Nikai delivered a personal letter to Xi from Abe, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, without giving further details.

Echoing regular pronouncements from Beijing, Xi also mentioned the 70th anniversary of the Japanese surrender in the second world war, and added that "the facts of history cannot be distorted".

"The efforts of anyone seeking to distort or beautify the facts of Japan's acts of militaristic invasion will not be accepted by the people of China," he added.

His remarks came just a day after China renewed its call for Japan to "face up to" its 20th century history after Abe's wife visited a shrine which Beijing sees as a symbol of Tokyo's warring past.

China is preparing a massive military parade in September to mark the 70th anniversary, and also creating a public holiday.

China's defence ministry said that its army planes on Thursday for the first time flew over the Miyako Strait, between Japan's Miyako and Okinawa Islands.

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