China Daily Editorial Flash
It’s hard to imagine any lie bigger than the words of Koichi Hagiuda, Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) policy chief, who, upon visiting the Yasukuni Shrine yesterday, said he renewed his vow to “work for lasting peace”.
Among the dead worshiped in the Yasukuni Shrine are 14 Class A Japanese war criminals of the World War II. By worshiping them, Hagiuda was actually supporting the war and its launchers instead of peace and its defenders.
Sanae Takaichi, minister of Economic Security, and all others who participated in the trip represent the will of the Japanese government, which has never hidden its ambition of re-militarization.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida didn’t appear on site, but news reports said an official visited the Yasukuni Shrine on his behalf and made offering in cash “at Kishida’s personal expense”. A practice similar to his predecessor Shinzo Abe since 2013, which shows that worshiping the Class-A war criminals has already become a consensus among some Japanese politicians and the PM is among them.
And the excuse of certain Japanese politicians and media outlets for such a misdeed, namely “for the war dead”, doesn’t wash. China suffered over 35 million casualties mainly due to the Japanese invasion during WWII, yet only few senior Japanese politicians have ever visited the Museum of the War of the Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Okinawa suffered much from the Japanese Empire’s plan of “sacrificing 100 million” at the end of WWII, yet few Japanese politicians went there to apologize. They are in the habit of honoring the place where 14 Class-A war criminals are worshiped.
He that worships an evil might be an evil, too. Time for all those who suffered from imperial Japan’s invasion to stay alert of Japan’s pursuit of the militaristic past and revival of the imperial dream.
– Courtesy of China Daily
