Nearly 150 Japanese lawmakers paid homage at the Yasukuni Shrine yesterday, raising simmering tensions on the eve of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Japan.
A cross-section of parliamentarians, including at least one Cabinet minister, paid their respects at the shrine in Tokyo, which honors Japan’s war dead, including several convicted war criminals.
China and South Korea see the shrine as a symbol of what they call Japan’s unwillingness to repent for its wartime aggressions over the past century, while the US views visits as unnecessary provocations.
Photo: EPA
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a symbolic gift to the shrine on Monday — provoking a charge from China that he was offering “a slap in the face” to Obama — but did not make a visit.
By contrast, yesterday’s trip was Japanese Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications Yoshitaka Shindo’s second in 10 days.
“I renew my faith in peace so that such tragedies will never be repeated. This is the belief that I always keep in mind when I come to Yasukuni Shrine,” he said, adding that he was there in a private capacity.
Sanae Takaichi, policy chief of Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, said after visiting the shrine that reverence by politicians should not provoke diplomatic difficulties.
“It happens to be the time for the spring festival,” she told reporters.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government would not interfere with shrine visits by Cabinet members.
“When a minister visits the shrine personally, it is a matter of an individual’s freedom of faith. The government should not step into it,” he said.
In another incident that could fuel regional tensions, Tokyo yesterday lodged a formal protest against Beijing’s seizure of a Japanese ship over unpaid bills dating back to the 1930s.
The Shanghai Maritime Courto n Saturday said it seized a vessel owned by Japanese shipping giant Mitsui O.S.K. Lines “for enforcement of an effective judgement” made in December 2007 ordering the firm to pay ¥2.9 billion (US$28 million) in relation to the leasing of two ships nearly 80 years ago.
Some Japanese media outlets suggested that the seizure was meant to underline China’s assertiveness before Obama’s arrival.
“We have told the Chinese side through diplomatic channels that we regret its seizure of the vessel... we demand China take appropriate measures,” Suga said yesterday.
Tokyo’s position is that the seizure undermines a 1972 joint communique that normalized ties between Japan and China, in which Beijing agreed to renounce any demands for war reparations.
China on Monday said the case had nothing to do with the pact.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in