Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning

China on Thursday urged Japan's incumbent leadership to face up to history, reflect on their country's wartime crimes and make a clean break with militarism after Japanese media reports disclosed, for the first time, internal meeting records from Yasukuni Shrine that systematically document the decision-making process behind the enshrinement of 14 Class-A war criminals, including Hideki Tojo.

According to the records, the Japanese government reached an arrangement with the shrine on their enshrinement as early as the 1960s but kept it from the public. The relevant facts did not come to light until 1979.

In response to a question regarding the matter, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing that the relevant records serve as fresh proof that Japan was fully aware that enshrining Class A war criminals was disgraceful and felt guilty about it. 

It acted with deliberate scheming and colluded tacitly throughout the decision-making process. These Class A war criminals were the chief culprits of Japan's militarist wars of aggression, with their hands stained with the blood of people in victimized countries, Mao said. 

"The solemn rulings of the Tokyo Trials nailed these war criminals to the pillar of shame in human history, upheld international justice, and laid the legal foundation for the post war international order. How can Japan's incumbent leaders, who repeatedly pay homage to this de facto 'war criminal shrine,' have any sense of conscience?" said Mao. 

History brooks no distortion, and truth cannot be erased. The crimes committed by Japanese militarism during its wars of aggression are supported by irrefutable evidence. Japan's leaders should face up to history, reflect on those crimes and make a clean break with militarism, said Mao.

Global Times