Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday defended
his visits to a shrine honoring the country's war dead, a practice
which has outraged Asian countries that suffered under Japanese
wartime atrocities.
Koizumi said he was baffled by Chinese and South Korean leaders
turning down meetings with him because of his annual visits to
Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japanese veterans including convicted
war criminals from World War II.
"I do not understand why foreign governments interfere with a
spiritual issue and try to turn it into a diplomatic issue," he
said in a nationally televised news conference marking the start of
the new year.
He said that a leader has the right to express respect to a
country's war dead, and that the Yasukuni visits merely show his
resolve to never wage war again.
Koizumi has continued his annual visits to the shrine despite
demands from China and South Korea that he stop. The two countries
suffered under Japan's World War II-era military atrocities and
brutal colonial rule.
He said it was up to Beijing and Seoul to resume top-level
contacts with Japan.
"I have never tried to close dialogue with China and South
Korea. The door remains open," he said. "Every nation has
differences of opinion with others, and we should not close down
dialogue just because of one problem."
Also Wednesday, Koizumi reaffirmed his belief that Tokyo's
defense relations with Washington are more critical than its ties
with other nations.
"The United States is the only nation in the world that sees an
attack on Japan as an attack on itself," he said.
However, he denied he was suggesting that Japan's relations with
the United States are the only ones that matter.
(Chinadaily.com via agencies January 4, 2006)
