Koizumi Makes Long-Waited Visit to War Shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made the long-waited, yet controversial, visit to the Yasukuni war shrine on Tuesday, August 15th, the day in which Tokyo handed its surrender in the Second World War, as he promised last week, sparking a tremendous amount of criticism both from Japanese activists, as well as from Chinese and South Korean officials.

One of the Chinese officials, Li Zhaoxing, the Foreign Minister, threatened Tokyo that the attitude it adopts towards World War II and its contribution to it continues to remain a very "important precondition" for the future of diplomatic relations with his country, one of Japan's biggest trading allies. Li labeled Koizumi's visit to the shrine as a "hindrance to international justice that tramples the human conscience", while reading an official statement of protest addressed to the Japanese Ambassador at the Chinese Foreign ministry, Yuji Miyamoto.

"China is the biggest victim of the Japanese war of aggression. The Japanese government should acknowledge and treat this part of history as a political basis of the resumption of development of the postwar relationship between China and Japan. This is an important precondition for the future that the two countries are facing" Li told the Japanese Ambassador.

Around 30 war protesters gathered in Beijing near the Japanese Embassy and shouted slogans, but only for 20 minutes, after which they dispersed calmly, without any more violence like the April 2005 one, when demonstrators smashed windows and vandalized shops.

50 protesters gathered at the Japanese Consulate in Hong Kong, carrying signs that said "Down with Japanese Imperialism" and "Shame on Koizumi". They also burnt Japanese flags and brought letters to the consulate asking Japanese officials to stop the visits at the Yasukuni shrine, as well as issue a formal apology for all the atrocities committed during the war.

As far as South Korea was concerned, the Seoul administration, represented by President Roh Moo-Hyun, issued an official statement addressing its Tokyo counterpart and demanding it that it needs to prove that it has learnt the lessons history gave it, without repeating the same mistakes. The demands were made by Moo-Hyn during the 61st anniversary celebrations of the end of Japanese colonial rule in South Korea.