On December 26, 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe openly paid homage to the Yasukuni Shrine. On April 21,2014,during the three-day spring ritual worship ceremony in the Yasukuni Shrine Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and several members of the cabinet sent offerings to the Shrine. The Abe Administration attempted to revive militarism and brazenly challenged the post-war international order, bringing the Yasukuni Shrine issue into the focus of international public opinion once again. Their actions were strongly condemned by the international community.

 

The Yasukuni Shrine, where 14 Class-A war criminals including Hideki Tojo are honored, was the symbol of Japanese militarism’s foreign aggression in World War II. Japan’S attitude toward Yasukuni Shrine indicates whether Japan can properly view and repent its history of aggression. People in Asian countries abhor Japanese politicians’ visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and condemned it as” worship to the demons”. Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni Shrine seriously affronted the feelings of people of all countries that have once suffered from Japanese militarist aggression and colonial rule. His act of turning back the wheels of history has aroused high vigilance and strong concern from neighboring countries and the international community over where Japan is headed.

 

To refute Abe’s atrocious behavior and enlist support of the International public opinion for China and other victimized Asian countries, Chinese ambassadors and diplomats across the globe wrote and published articles in local mainstream media outlets to explain China’s stance, exposing the attempt of Japanese right-wing force to whitewash Japan’s history of militaristic colonial invasion, and revealing the truth of the history. These articles expound to the international community the truth of the Yasukuni Shrine issue and the root of the China-Japan dispute, exposed the truth of Abe’s homage to the Shrine, and showed the harmfulness of his right-leaning policies to the peace and security of the Asian-Pacific region and the world, urging the Japanese right-wing force led by Abe to adopt the right manner to the past, stop the confrontational behavior, and abandon militarism. This book is the collection of some sixty speeches given by Chinese oversea diplomats refuting Japanese Prime Minister’s homage at the Yasukuni shrine, and will be published in seven languages, which are Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese.

 

The Editors

June, 2014