Japan's leaders should carefully reconsider their visit to the
Yasukuni Shrine and should abide by the solemn statements they have
made on the issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi said
on Friday.
Sun gave the warning when asked to comment on Japanese Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi's claim that he would visit the site on
August 15.
The shrine, a symbol of military aggression by Japan before and
during World War II, still houses memorial tablets for notorious
Japanese war criminals.
The issue of paying homage to the shrine is in essence an issue of
how the Japanese Government and Japanese leaders view and deal with
the history of aggression committed by Japanese militarists in the
past, Sun added.
(Xinhua 05/12/2001)