Kishida vows not to wage war as ministers' shrine visit sparks anger

TOKYO • Prime Minster Fumio Kishida vowed on the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender yesterday that his country would never again wage war, as members of his Cabinet visited a shrine that honours war dead, angering South Korea and China.

Japan's ties with Beijing were already strained after China conducted unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan following a visit there by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi this month. During the drills, several missiles fell in waters inside Japan's exclusive economic zone.

"We will never again repeat the horrors of war," Mr Kishida told a secular gathering in Tokyo, also attended by Emperor Naruhito.

"I will continue to live up to this determined oath. In a world where conflicts are still unabated, Japan is a proactive leader in peace."

The anniversary of Japan's surrender is traditionally also marked by visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, which is seen by South Korea and China as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Yasukuni honours 14 Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals, who are among some 2.5 million war dead commemorated there.

Visits by Japanese leaders to the shrine infuriate neighbours that suffered at the hands of Japan before and during World War II.

Mr Kishida, on the dovish side of the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), faced a tricky balancing act, hoping to avoid irking neighbours while keeping happy the more right-wing members of the party - particularly after the killing of former premier Shinzo Abe last month.

Mr Kishida sent an offering to the shrine without visiting, Kyodo news agency reported, as he also did during recent festivals at the shrine.

But unlike his predecessor Yoshihide Suga, and Mr Abe in 2020, Mr Kishida made an oblique reference to Japan's wartime actions, saying "the lessons of history are graven deeply in our hearts".

Despite that, South Korea and China denounced the visits to the shrine.

In South Korea, officials expressed "deep disappointment" and regret.

"The Korean government is urging Japan's responsible people to face history and show humble reflection and genuine reflection on the past through action," a spokesman for South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wengbin said Japan needed to deeply reflect on its history.

"Some Japanese political figures frequently distort and glorify the history of aggression in various ways, and openly violate the Cairo Declaration and other important legal documents that clearly provide for the return of Taiwan to China," he told a briefing.

In 2013, Mr Abe was the last prime minister in recent memory to visit Yasukuni while in office, a visit that outraged both China and South Korea and drew a rebuke from its close ally, the United States.

REUTERS