Dozens of Japanese lawmakers, including two cabinet members, visited a Tokyo shrine that honors war criminals on Thursday, sparking anger in Beijing and Seoul over their attempts to deny Japan's militarist past.

Within the past two months, Japan has run into a severe diplomatic deadlock with its neighbors in territorial disputes over islands, and observers warned that Japan's right-wing hard-liners have hijacked foreign relations and will fuel further disagreements.

Japanese Transport Minister Yuichiro Hata and Postal Privatization Minister Mikio Shimoji, along with more than 60 cross-party members of parliament, visited the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the nation's war dead, including Class A war criminals.

Because it is a symbol of Japan's wartime aggression in World War II, previous visits by Japanese politicians to the shrine have infuriated its victimized neighbors, including China and South Korea, and reminded them of its militarist past.

On Wednesday, Shinzo Abe, leader of the Liberation Democratic Party, Japan's main opposition party, visited the shrine.

The shrine is "a spiritual pillar" used by Japanese militarism for its overseas aggression, and it still enshrines war criminals "who owe victimized people heavy bloody debts", Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a daily news conference on Thursday.

"We urge Japan to reflect upon history and strictly abide by its solemn statements and pledges regarding historical issues, and face the international community in a responsible manner," Hong said.

Japanese Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, Tokyo's top spokesman, said the ministers' latest visits were "not made in an official capacity" and "the government has no further comment".

Wang Ping, a researcher on Japanese studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Tokyo should consider the feelings of neighboring countries, adding that calling the visits "private" is never viewed as an excuse for Japan to turn a blind eye to its militarist past.

Yet Japan's election is coming in a few months, and Wang warned that conservative forces account for a major portion of the voters. "That's why some politicians frequently become radical for support, and we should be fully prepared for it," Wang said.

China-Japan ties have been overshadowed for years by what Beijing says has been Tokyo's refusal to admit to wartime atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers in the country between 1931 and 1945, Reuters said.

A visit to the shrine remains a focus of nationalist pride among Japanese conservatives and right-wingers, and the visits are regarded as evidence that "Japan's leaders do not acknowledge their country's responsibility for its colonialist past", The Associated Press said.

South Korea on Thursday also slammed the visits of the Japanese politicians, including existing cabinet members, as "irresponsible behavior that ignores the national feelings of the victimized neighbors", Seoul-based Yonhap News Agency reported.

"The South Korean government calls on Japan's political leaders in a responsible position to look squarely at history with a humble attitude," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said at a news briefing.

Some Japanese politicians, including Abe, have also called for a rethink of a 1993 apology by Japan to "comfort women", including Korean and Chinese females who were forced to work as sex slaves by the Japanese military in the 1930s and 1940s.

The Yasukuni visits are likely to further strain relations at a time when Japan and South Korea are engaged in a propaganda war over a long-standing territorial dispute involving a set of isolated islands, which Seoul calls Dokdo and Tokyo calls Takeshima, AFP said.

zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 10/19/2012 page11)