On October 17, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi once again visited the Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class-A war criminals of World War II are honored. It was Koizumi's fifth visit to the shrine since he took office in April 2001. Despite the strong opposition from China and other Asian countries and their peoples as well as from the people of insight in Japan, Koizumi provoked disturbances and randomly hurt the feelings and dignity of the victimized countries and their peoples during the war and seriously undermined Sino-Japanese relations. The move evokes great indignation in Chinese people.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the victory in China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Such a move challenges the human conscience and international justice. In April this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao put forward a five-point proposal on the Sino-Japanese relations at the Asian-African summit. Koizumi's action ignored the sincere wishes of the Chinese government and people for improving the Sino-Japanese ties. The Osaka High Court made a ruling recently that Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni violated Japanese constitution and Koizumi's visit made light of the law. The diplomatic authorities from both China and Japan are holding strategic dialogue in Beijing, so his move is creating obstacles for the efforts to improve the ties between the two countries. October 17 was a day when the Chinese people warmly congratulated the successful landing of China's manned Shenzhou VI. So his action is a serious provocation against the entire Chinese people.

Regarding the protests held by China and the Republic of Korea against his shrine visit, Koizumi quibbled, "The question is one out of his own inner feelings and nobody should interfere in. And it is not the issue for foreign governments to say no''. This is a sheer word of self-deception. The Japanese militarism hurt the Chinese people the most in the modern history. Of the 14 Class-A war criminals of World War II honored in Yasukuni, 13 had their hands covered with the blood of Chinese people. Why do the Chinese people, whose feelings were seriously hurt, cannot say no? It is not that all Japanese politicians have the same feelings as Koizumi. The previous eight Japanese prime ministers said that they disagree with Koizumi's undermining Japanese foreign relations with other countries out of his so-called "personal belief''. On October 17 Japanese House of Representatives Speaker Yohei Kono said about Koizumi's visit to the Yasukumi shrine, "I asked the prime minister to deliberate as the best as he could, so I regret very much for his move. From media surveys in Japan, it can be seen that the shrine visit does not represent Japanese public's opinions."

The "cold political situation'' existed in the Sino-Japanese relations is evident to all. The phrase "cold politics'' is one of later generation to describe the Sino-Japanese ties, that is to say the it was "born'' after Koizumi as Japanese Prime Minister. It is easily observable that the "climatic temperature drop'' for the relations is directly connected with the "cold currents'' created by Koizumi's shrine visit. The repeated occurrence of the "cold currents'' for the past consecutive years has affected Japan and its Asian neighbors, expanding its harm from politics to economics, and from public opinion to social mentality. As a result, the worst situation has appeared since the normalization of the Sino-Japanese relations in 1972. Koizumi must shoulder all responsibilities for the severe political consequences resulting from his wrongdoing.

Koizumi's shrine visit not only damages the Sino-Japanese ties, but also hurts Japan itself actually; not only brings harm to Japanese foreign relations, but also adds specks to Japan's international image. Just think, how does a country, that has no rational knowledge and correct attitude towards its own aggressive history and war crimes, win trust from the world, and the leader of the country goes his own way and ignores human moral principles? If really wanting to win confidence from its Asian neighboring nations and the international community and playing an active role in international affairs, Japan must take compelling actual actions to show that it "has history as lessons and faces the future''. Don't make frequent troubles on the issue of history and create repeated disputes any more.

The article, carried on the front page of People's Daily Overseas Edition on October 18, is translated by People's Daily Online