A FORMER Japanese ambassador to China urged the Japanese Government to take concrete actions to improve Sino-Japanese relations, according to an article in the China Youth Daily.
"If Japan does not re-think its past history of aggression and apologize to China, it should not expect further development of the friendship between the two countries," said the former ambassador.
Two foreign-policy forums of Japan's Liberal Diplomatic Party (LDP) recently decided to ask foreign leaders to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine.
Because this decision was made by the ruling LDP just after Prime Minister Hashimoto's pledge to re-examine the country' history, this call has to be taken seriously, the newspaper said.
It makes the people of China doubt Japan's sincerity in re-thinking its history of aggression and its promise not to return to the militarist road again, said the newspaper.
Japanese war dead including the notorious Hideki Tojo are enshrined in Yasukuni. The Japanese LDP, driven by some right-wingers, has gone too far since the beginning of this year, said the paper.
Some politicians glorified the history of aggression and denied the atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers.
Hashimoto, despite the rage and opposition of other Asian countries, paid his respects to the Yasukuni Shrine this July, breaking the self-restraint rule kept for 11 years by other Japanese Prime Ministers who did not pay homage to the shrine in an official capacity.
In late September, the LDP added a proposition to its election platform demanding the Japanese prime minister to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine openly.
Now the LDP has even asked foreign leaders and politicians to do that ridiculous thing.
It is obvious from this affair that militarism has a sound basis in Japan. Though some Japanese are forced to talk about "re-thinking" and "regret," they do not admit the mistakes in their hearts. As long as there are opportunities, they will not hesitate to create trouble by distorting historical facts, the newspaper said.