Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said on Saturday that the country's emperor should visit the Yasukuni Shrine which honors 14 Class-A war criminals along with over 2 million war dead in the World War II.

"From the viewpoint of the spirits of the war dead, they hailed 'Banzai'(long live) for the emperor -- none of them said long live the prime minister. A visit by the emperor would be the best," Aso said.

The minister made the remark at a speech in Nagoya, Kyodo News reported, at a time when Japan's relations with its Asian neighbors strained due to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's controversial visits to the shrine.

Koizumi's repeated visits the Shrine have severely hurt the feelings of Asian people who suffered from atrocities by Japanese aggression army before and during the WWII.

"The 14 top war criminals are major symbols of Japanese militarism as well as Japanese fascism," said Wu Jianmin, president of China Foreign Affairs University, in a recent symposium on China-Japan relations.

The Japanese leaders' visit to the Shrine is a serious political issue, which shows that they have not acquired a correct attitude towards Japan's war history.

But Aso said: "The more China voices (opposition), the more one feels like going there. It's just like when you're told not to smoke, you simply can't help taking more. It's best (for China) to keep quiet."

Late emperor Hirohito stopped visiting the Yasukuni Shrine after it started to enshrine top war criminals in 1978, and the present Emperor Akihito has never made any visit there.

Source: Xinhua