The Tokyo-based Yasukuni Shrine on Saturday refused to separate
memorial tablets of Class-A WWII war criminals from Japan's
ordinary war dead despite of proposal of domestic statesmen and
strong protests from many Asian countries, Kyodo News Service
reported Saturday.
"This is a matter of Japanese religious faith.... Their separate
enshrinement will never happen," the shrine said in a written
statement in response to questions from Kyodo.
Yasukuni Shrine's statement on a proposal to separately enshrine
the 14 Class-A war criminals -- including wartime Prime Minister
Gen. Hideki Tojo -- from Japan's 2.5 million war dead came as
Japan's ties with China and South Korea encounter difficulties due
to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Tokyo
shrine.
In view of the cooling relationship of Japan with China and
South Korea, some legislators of Koizumi's governing Liberal
Democratic Party proposed removing the tablets of the Class-A war
criminals from Yasukuni.
Among others, Hidenao Nakagawa, chairman of the LDP's Parliament
Affairs Committee, said last Sunday it is desirable that the
Class-A war criminals be enshrined separately from the rest of the
war dead through discussions between the shrine and families of the
war dead.
Five Japanese former prime ministers and House of
Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono on Wednesday also reached an
agreement urging Koizumi to halt his visits to the notorious shrine
in order to avoid further worsening relations with China.
Yasuhiro Nakasone, who was unable to attend the former prime
ministers' meeting, also expressed similar opinions to Kono.
Moreover, the former prime minister on Friday reiterated that
Koizumi should stop visiting the shrine.
Kiichi Miyazawa, Toshiki Kaifu, Tomiichi Murayama, Ryutaro
Hashimoto, Yoshiro Mori all agreed on the issue in a gathering on
concerns of current difficulties in Japan-China relations.
According to Asahi Shimbun's report on Saturday, Nakasone
also made a suggestion to separately enshrine the Class-A war
criminals and the Japanese war dead. "If the separation needs time,
it is wise for Koizumi to make decision of stopping the visits
during the time," Nakasone was quoted by the daily.
Nakasone, once visited shrine as prime minister, stopped the
shrine visit due to protests from China, South Korea and some other
Asian countries in order to no longer damage ties with the
countries and hurt their people's heart.
In spite of strong protests from China and other Asian
countries, Koizumi has paid four visits to the shrine since he took
office in April 2001, with the latest one on New Year's Day in
2004.
He has repeatedly made chicaneries saying his visits are aimed
at paying tribute to Japan's war dead, not to the Class-A war
criminals, and has pledged that Japan will not wage war again.
As a widely known fact, the 14 Class-A war criminals honored at
the shrine are responsible for the most atrocious crimes in Japan's
war of aggression against its Asian neighbors.?
(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2005)