BEIJING, September 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian ambassador Sergey Korsunsky "affronted" the people of China and other Asian countries by visiting the Yasukuni Shinto Shrine, "a symbol of Japan's militaristic and colonial past," reads an article in the Chinese newspaper China Daily.
Its authors drew attention to the already deleted post of the Ukrainian embassy in Japan in the social network X saying that Korsunsky visited the Yasukuni Shrine to "pay homage to the martyrs who died for the Japanese nation". The ambassador was asked to remember that the Yasukuni Shrine keeps the lists of the names of Japanese convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (1946-1948) and sentenced to the death penalty for participation in war crimes during World War II.
"Calling these war criminals martyrs who died for Japan is undoubtedly a major affront to the feelings of Asian people, including Chinese people, whose countries suffered the barbarous invasion by Japanese militarists, and a gross breach of the international society's bottom line," the paper wrote, emphasizing that "the ambassador and his embassy have shown their lack of the most basic knowledge of history."
The newspaper also recommended Korsunsky not to forget about China's peacekeeping efforts to resolve the Ukrainian conflict.
"It is inadvisable for the Ukrainian ambassador in Japan to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine and offend China," the paper stated.
Visits to Yasukuni by officials and offerings to the temple on their behalf cause protests and are perceived in China, the Republic of Korea and other Asian countries, affected by Japanese aggression during World War II as its justification. On August 15, China protested over an offering to Yasukuni made by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. This gesture, according to Beijing, demonstrates Tokyo's unfair attitude toward historical issues. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry also condemned the Japanese officials’ visits to Yasukuni, calling them an evidence of revanchist ambitions.