Last week, at the annual commemoration at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima to mark the 68th anniversary of the US atomic bombing of the city, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed that he would not visit the Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, also the 68th anniversary of the end of WWII, but said he would like his cabinet members to make such decisions based on their own beliefs.

Abe should have talked about non-nuclear principles and world peace at the ceremony, but he mentioned possible pilgrimages to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine.

Visits to the shrine by Japanese government officials have become a sensitive diplomatic issue arousing enormous controversy and drawing sharp criticism both at home and abroad.

Abe's suggestion that he would not visit the shrine was made in hopes of mending Japan's strained relations with China and South Korea. The two neighbors canceled most official meetings with the Japanese government when former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi was in office (2001-06) and paid respects at the shrine six years in a row.

Abe feels the urgent need to solve diplomatic headaches that have been worsened by Japan's row with China over the Diaoyu Islands and contention with South Korea on the issue of "comfort women." The current tense scenario in Northeast Asia seems to worry the Japanese government more than ever.

Nonetheless, Abe still said it would be fine for his ministers to go, throwing a bone to the Japanese right wing. He also donated to the nationalist shrine earlier this year. The intrinsic attempt by the Japanese cabinet to deny the history of militarist aggression has not changed.

The attitudes of Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) could neither mend Tokyo's deteriorated ties with Beijing and Seoul, nor relieve tensions in East Asia.

Japan launched the Izumo, a huge warship which could function as an aircraft carrier, last week.

The commission of what Japan calls a 22DH-class frigate reveals the country's intention to increase its maritime presence and facilitate the Abe administration in revising the nation's pacifist constitution.

Without reflecting its wartime invasion and atrocities, the Japanese government now vows to build up military and defense forces to gain more air and naval supremacy. Besides, it is trying every means to deepen its alliance with Washington to curb a rising China.

But fortunately, the right-wing zeal displayed by Abe's cabinet has met with opposition from a certain number of Japanese citizens. People of vision and insight insist that the society remain vigilant against the government's militarist tendencies that may lead the country astray.

Abe might risk plummeting popularity at home. His LDP won the upper house election in July mainly thanks to "Abenomics," and the public will also be very likely to disapprove if his economic policy fails. 

 "Abenomics" is a highly risky and fragile policy. Despite the fact that it has helped the Japanese economy rebound somewhat in a short term by depreciating the yen and stimulating the stock market, it will not be well received from a long-term perspective without providing solutions to fundamental defects in the country's economic structures.

In addition to domestic objections, the international community as a whole should stay highly alert to the Japanese government's right-wing mania that poses severe threats to the security of China and East Asia at large.

Confronted with such a stubborn stance, China and South Korea should first adhere to their relevant diplomatic principles, and then seek common ground with the Japanese public through people-to-people exchanges.

What's more, the US, as Japan's close ally, should criticize the militaristic mentality and the right-wing actions of Abe's cabinet.

The Obama administration should also join hands with China and South Korea to avoid further damage to their interests in the Asia-Pacific region.

The article was compiled by Global Times reporter Wang Xiaonan based on an interview with Liu Jiangyong, vice director of the Institute of Modern International Relations, Tsinghua University. wangxiaonan@globaltimes.com.cn