Japan Shrine Visits Further Strain Ties Frayed by Island Dispute
Japan Shrine Visits Further Strain Ties Frayed by Island Dispute
Apr 23, 2013 1:47 PM GMT+0900
A group of Japanese lawmakers visited a shrine seen in Asia as a symbol of the country’s wartime aggression, fanning regional tensions as eight Chinese patrol boats approached islands claimed by both countries.
The 169 lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine today as part of the site’s spring festival, Kyodo news agency said, citing a statement from the group. It was the largest gathering of politicians to visit since records of such trips were first kept in 1989, and comes after China and South Korea complained about a visit last weekend by Finance Minister Taro Aso.
Japan Lawmakers Visit War Shrine After China, S. Korea Protest
The Yasukuni visits and sea patrols imperils efforts to repair a relationship that may be at the lowest point since formal ties were set in 1972, after Japan’s purchase of the islands in September sparked protests across China. Aso sought to play down the significance of the shrine visits, saying they would have no bearing on the relationship.
“Relations between China and Japan are at their worst since diplomatic ties were established,” said Rumi Aoyama, a professor of Chinese studies at Waseda University in Tokyo. “Sovereignty and understanding of history are problems on which neither Japan nor China wants to compromise.”
China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported that eight Chinese surveillance ships monitored “several” Japanese ships in waters around the Diaoyu Islands today. The East China Sea islands, known as Senkaku in Japan, are claimed by both sides and sit in an area rich in resources including fish and oil.
Japan Protest
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government had protested to China and urged that the ships leave the area. A group of Japanese activists are scheduled to stage one of their regular fishing trips to waters around the islands by April 25, according to a statement on the group’s website.
The Tokyo shrine is viewed in China and Korea as a symbol of military atrocities during Japan’s occupation of much of Asia in the first half of the 20th century. Yasukuni commemorates Japan’s war dead, including World War II leaders convicted by an international tribunal of war crimes.
“There has been a reaction from abroad, but I don’t think this is likely to have any particular effect on foreign ties,” Aso told reporters this morning.
Japan’s trade with China has failed to recover since the Chinese street protests, in which demonstrators attacked Japanese businesses and boycotted their products. Japanese exports to China fell in nine of 10 months through March. Exports dropped almost 16 percent in February and December.
‘Always Open’
The U.S overtook China as Japan’s largest export destination in the fiscal year ending March 2013 for the first time since fiscal 2008.
At a press conference on April 19, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had met the Chinese ambassador at a party and told him he sought to rebuild a “mutually beneficial strategic relationship” between their two countries. “Japan’s door is always open to talks with China,” Abe said.
South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se yesterday canceled a trip to Tokyo where he was to have met his counterpart Fumio Kishida, without giving reasons. The ministry released a statement expressing “deep concerns” over Aso’s visit to the shrine, while China also lodged a protest.
Yun’s cancellation could impede efforts by Japan and South Korea to coordinate their response to threats by North Korea, which has warned of attacks in the region as it expands its nuclear weapons program.
The shrine visits by Aso and other officials at the weekend were the first by members of Abe’s government since his Liberal Democratic Party regained power in December.
While Abe didn’t visit the shrine, he sent an offering, and China filed a formal protest, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said yesterday. “There is ironclad evidence for the aggression and crimes of Japanese militarism during World War II,” Hua said at a briefing. “Japan must face up to its past.”
Source: bloomberg.com
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