Why can't the Chinese accept Abe's shrine visit?

The shrine is also different from America's Arlington National Cemetery for several reasons. First, Arlington is not a religious venue. Second, Arlington is not a hotbed for militarism, because no American soldiers have ever dreamed of being buried there if they die in the war and don't regard it as a comfort to their soul during the war as the Japanese soldiers did. Third, there is no archive in Arlington to justify America's role in slavery, the Korean War and the Vietnam War like the Yushukan Museum at the Yasukuni Shrine. These factors make the Japanese politicians' request for the world to take the Yasukuni Shrine as a simple tomb of unknown soldiers totally unacceptable.

Last, following ancient customs, protecting freedom of belief and respecting the people's will are lame excuses for the prime minister's visit to the shrine. In the mid-1980s, Nakamura Hajime and Takeshi Umehara, two famous scholars on Japanese religion and culture, made clear their objections to the visit, pointing out that it was against Shinto principles and worshipping customs. In 2004, Takeshi Umehara published an article to explain why the visit is not justified in terms of religion and folklore. The fact that the Emperor of Japan stopped visiting the shrine since 1979 after Class-A war criminals were enshrined there also proves that the Japanese prime minister's visits are unjustified.

Abe's shrine visit is bad for Japan's relations with other East Asian countries, its relations with the United States and its image in the world. Perhaps Abe thought his deed would win the support of some of the Japanese people, but he forgot that the majority of the Japanese people don't want to see their country's image damaged. The opposition on the international stage has already changed the public view in Japan. After protests from China, South Korea, Russia and Vietnam and criticism from the United States, European countries and the UN, the Japanese people's attitude has changed from positive to negative, only days after the visit. They have even started to criticize it.

Disputes over history and the Diaoyu Islands are the two major issues affecting the China-Japan relationship. If the two issues flare up one after another, it would cause a setback in bilateral relations, but if both issues flared up at the same time, bilateral relations would be on the brink of crisis. If Prime Minister Shinzo Abe really hopes for the best for Japan and wants its relations with China to improve, he should be more discreet about his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

The author is a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The article was translated by Chen Xia. The original unabridged version was published in Chinese.

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.