U.S. disappointed by Abe's Yasukuni visit; China, S Korea protest/Russia expresses regret over Abe's Yasukuni shrine visit. -(video)

TOKYO/BEIJING/SEOUL —

The United States is “disappointed” by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to the Yasukuni war shrine, which will raise regional tensions, its embassy in Tokyo said Thursday
“Japan is a valued ally and friend. Nevertheless, the United States is disappointed that Japan’s leadership has taken an action that will exacerbate tensions with Japan’s neighbors,” a written statement said.
The reaction came a few hours after Abe went to the shrine, which commemorates more than 2.5 million war dead including more than a dozen high-ranking officials convicted of serious war crimes.

“The United States hopes that both Japan and its neighbors will find constructive ways to deal with sensitive issues from the past, to improve their relations, and to promote cooperation in advancing our shared goals of regional peace and stability,” the statement said.
“We take note of the Prime Minister’s expression of remorse for the past and his reaffirmation of Japan’s commitment to peace.”

China’s reaction
Meanwhile, China strongly condemned the visit, saying the shrine glorified Japan’s “history of militaristic aggression”.
“We strongly protest and seriously condemn the Japanese leader’s acts,” Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a statement immediately after Abe’s visit to the shrine.
China would make “solemn representations” to Japan over his actions, the ministry said.
“The essence of Japanese leaders’ visits to the Yasukuni shrine is to beautify Japan’s history of militaristic aggression and colonial rule,” Qin said, adding that Abe was “brutally trampling on the feelings of the Chinese people and those of other victimised Asian countries”.
China’s ruling Communist Party seeks to bolster its public support by tapping into deep-seated resentment of Japan for its brutal invasion of the country in the 1930s.
Before and during World War II Japanese forces swept through much of east Asia, where their treatment of both civilian populations in occupied areas and prisoners of war was often appalling, with the Nanjing Massacre one of the worst atrocities recorded.
According to estimates by Chinese government researchers, China lost 20.6 million people directly from the war.
Even now the history is a key element of the backdrop to the two countries’ bitter dispute over islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing sees as having been seized by Tokyo at the start of its expansionism.
Qin noted the row in his statement, contending that Japan’s move last year to nationalise some of the outcrops—which are called Diaoyu by Beijing and Senkaku by Tokyo—was a “farce” that had led to “serious difficulties” in China-Japan relations.
The world’s second- and third-biggest economies have significant business ties, but politically their relationship is often troubled, and at times tensions over the islands have raised fears of a possible military incident.
Qin’s statement came after a Chinese foreign ministry official condemned Abe’s action as “absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people”.
Japan “must bear the consequences arising from this”, Luo Zhaohui, director-general of the ministry’s department of Asian affairs, said in a statement posted on a verified ministry microblog.
He added that the visit, the first by an incumbent Japanese prime minister since 2006, “causes great harm to the feelings of the Asian people and creates a significant new political obstacle to bilateral relations”.
In a commentary issued soon after Abe’s visit, the official Xinhua news agency contended that the Japanese leader “knows perfectly what he is doing and the consequences”.
“Instead of a pledge against war, as Abe has claimed, the visit is a calculated provocation to stoke further tension,” Xinhua wrote, adding that the visit “is the culmination of Abe’s year-long policy of right-wing nationalism”.
Users of China’s popular social networks responded with fury to the move, with many noting that Abe made his visit on the same day that Chinese President Xi Jinping was paying tribute to Mao Zedong on the 120th anniversary of the former leader’s birth.
“Today, Xi Jinping paid homage to Mao Zedong, and Abe paid tribute to the Yasukuni shrine! You both chose the same day! This is a deliberate provocation,” wrote one Chinese Internet user.
“The base of Abe’s power comes from his confrontation with China, so whatever upsets China, that’s what he’ll do,” another wrote. “No matter what he says about China-Japan friendship, Asian prosperity and joint promotion of peace, it’s all a facade.” 

South Korea’s reaction
South Korea on Thursday expressed anger at Abe’s visit, calling it “anachronistic behavior.”
“We can’t help deploring and expressing anger at the prime minister’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine… despite concerns and warnings by neighboring countries,” Culture Minister Yoo Jin-Ryong told reporters.
“The visit… is anachronistic behavior that fundamentally damages not only relations between the South and Japan but also stability and cooperation in Northeast Asia,” he said.
Yoo said the shrine honored those who inflicted “indescribable” pain and suffering on Koreans during Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the peninsula.
“Japan, if it genuinely seeks to make an active contribution to world peace, first needs to build trust with neighboring countries… through thorough self-reflection and apology… instead of denying its past and glorifying past aggression,” he said.
Bilateral relations have been icy for the past year, partly due to a dispute over Seoul-controlled islets also claimed by Tokyo.
Relations were further strained when a group of Japanese ministers and politicians visited Yasukuni in August.
Japan’s militaristic past has left a bitter legacy in China and both Koreas.
Seoul and Beijing have refused to hold formal bilateral summits with Abe, whom they see as hawkish on the issues of territory and history.
 http://www.japantoday.com/category/politics/view/u-s-disappointed-by-abes-yasukuni-visit-china-s-korea-protest
26/12/13
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• Russia expresses regret over Abe's Yasukuni shrine visit

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich on Thursday expressed regret over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine.
Lukashevich, director of the ministry's Information and Press Department, said in a statement that some forces in Japan have a different evaluation on the outcome of World War II from the understanding shared by the world.
While Lukashevich's remark was addressing the Yasukuni issue, it may have also been veiled criticism against Japan about Tokyo's territorial claim on a group of islands held by Russia. Moscow maintains its control over the islands is a result of the war.
==Kyodo
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/kyodo-news-international/131226/russia-expresses-regret-over-abes-yasukuni-shrine-vi-0
26/12/13
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Why Would Shinzo Abe Visit The Yasukuni Shrine? από NewsyVideos
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• ****Комментарий официального представителя МИД России А.К.Лукашевича в связи с посещением Премьер-министром Японии С.Абэ храма Ясукуни

В Москве обратили внимание на посещение 26 декабря с.г. Премьер- министром Японии С.Абэ синтоистского храма Ясукуни, в котором, как считается, упокоены души военных преступников класса «А», осужденных Международным военным трибуналом для Дальнего Востока.
Официальному Токио хорошо известно, насколько болезненно посещение упомянутого храма воспринимается народами, пострадавшими от японской агрессии во время Второй мировой войны.
Уверены, что правильное понимание исторического прошлого составляет важную основу современных отношений Токио с соседними странами, которые в годы войны боролись с японским милитаризмом. На фоне усиливающихся попыток отдельных сил навязать японскому обществу тенденциозные, отличающиеся от общепринятых в мире оценки итогов Второй мировой войны, такой поступок главы японского правительства не может не вызывать сожаления.
.mid.ru
26/12/13