Kishida angers China and South Korea with donation to Yasukuni Shrine

The Japanese Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, has sent this Monday a donation to the Yasukuni Shrine, where the remains of 2.5 million soldiers are buried, including some of those responsible for the serious crimes committed by the Japanese Empire in Asia, which has stirred up neighboring countries.

This August 15 Japan remembers Japan’s surrender day, which ended World War II in the Pacific, so Kishida has forwarded a donation to the Shinto shrine as leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japanese public television NHK reports.

Although Kishida has not visited the shrine, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi and Reconstruction Minister Kenya Akiba have.

This is the third consecutive year that Japanese government ministers have visited Yasukuni Shrine on August 15. Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura visited the shrine last Saturday.

After the visit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying recalled that the Yasukuni Shrine holds the remains of 14 Class A war criminals, making it “a symbol of Japan’s militaristic war of aggression.”

Therefore, it considers this donation and the visit of Japanese government ministers “an affront to historical justice and seriously hurt the feelings of the Asian victim countries, including China” and have conveyed their formal complaint through diplomatic channels to Tokyo.

Meanwhile, Seoul has expressed its “deep disappointment” over these honors at Yasukuni and has called on Japanese authorities to “face history and demonstrate humility and introspection” with their history.