US ally South Korea joins China in condemning Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba reportedly sending an offering to the Second World War-linked Yasukuni Shrine.
The South Korean foreign ministry expressed its “deep disappointment and regret” over Ishiba’s actions without naming him.
The Yasukuni Shrine honours 14 convicted Class-A war criminals involved in heinous war crimes during Japan’s aggression on Asia and occupation of China and Korea.
Mr Ishiba has made an offering of the tree, called “masakaki” in Japan, in memory of the Class-A convicted war criminals after coming to power on October 1st.
“We urge the leaders of the new Japanese cabinet to squarely face history and show through action humble reflection and genuine atonement for past wrongdoings,” said Lee Jae-woong, the spokesperson of South Korea’s foreign ministry.
In recent years, especially since the rise of late prime minister Shinzo Abe, Japan has been unapologetically honouring its war criminals and exhibiting ultra-nationalist pride over the war crimes committed by its army during and before the Second World War.
The growing fondness of Japanese far-right rulers backed by the US for their militarism, has caused problems for Washington DC, which has been trying to forge unity of its allies in the region against China.
As most of the countries aligned with the US in the region also suffered due to Japan’s atrocities during the Second World War, including the Korean peninsula, it’s hard for their rulers to ignore the rise of militarism in Tokyo.
The fissures that Japan’s actions, especially the prime minister’s sending of offerings to the Yasukuni Shrine, have created in the US-led bloc, will eventually help China as it shares the anti-Japanese sentiments of the other Asian nations.
Calling the Yasukuni Shrine a “spiritual tool” and a “symbol of Japanese militarists’ war of aggression”, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning criticised the offerings by Mr Ishiba.
Ms Mao said China urges Japan to face and reflect on its history of aggression, act prudently on historical issues and make a clean break with militarism to earn the trust of its Asian neighbours and the international community with concrete actions.
Mr Ishiba, who used to be the defence minister of Japan earlier has been a proponent of an Asian NATO-type alliance against China that the US allies like India didn’t support. He is known for being hawkish and his policies are mostly shaped by Japan’s ultra-right nationalists who have extreme influence over his government.
Experts believe that to save his government, which was formed following the exit of his predecessor Fumio Kishida, Mr Ishiba is increasingly relying on the far-right militarist sentiments of a section of the Japanese people.
According to surveys, Mr Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party may suffer a big setback in the October 27th snap election called by him to the lower house of the Parliament.
Honouring the war criminals at the shrine may have been one of the measures of Mr Ishiba to stoke jingoism and win popular support.
Mr Ishiba has reportedly expressed his desire to improve relations with China and strengthen Japan’s ties with South Korea.
Mr Ishiba met Chinese Premier Li Qiang last week saying that Japan intends to resolve its past issues with China relying on bilateral consultations.
Earlier, Mr Ishiba had also met South Korean Prime Minister Yoon Suk Yeol and expressed Japan’s desire to deepen the bilateral ties between the two US allies in the Far East.
However, his recent offerings to the Yasukuni Shrine and Tokyo’s increasing drift towards militarism and a positive revisionist approach towards glorifying its war crimes can have severe repercussions for the Asian country’s foreign policy aspirations and ties with other US allies in the region.
Moreover, it can also affect the American ambition of establishing a military and economic hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region relying on its allies.