Ministry Minutes | Japanese authorities should face history, break with militarist past after latest Yasukuni records revealed: FM

China said on Thursday that Japanese authorities must face history and reflect on their guilt after Japanese media revealed Yasukuni Shrine records showing that the Japanese government secretly arranged in the 1960s to enshrine 14 Class-A World War II war criminals.

Photo: CCTV

"The records serve as fresh proof that the Japanese government at that time was fully aware that enshrining the Class-A war criminals was disgraceful," Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning said at a routine press briefing in Beijing. "It felt guilty about it and went to great lengths to keep the decision-making process secret."

The 14 Class-A World War II war criminals were the chief culprits of Japan's militarist war of aggression, "leaving their hands stained with the blood of people from victimized countries," she said.

"The solemn rulings of the Tokyo Trials nailed those war criminals forever to the pillar of shame in human history, upheld international justice and laid the legal foundation for the postwar international order," Mao said. "How can Japanese authorities retain any conscience when they repeatedly pay homage to what is in effect a shrine for war criminals?"

History cannot be falsified and truth cannot be erased, the ministry spokesperson said.

"The evidence of crimes of aggression committed by Japanese militarism is irrefutable," she said. "Japanese authorities should face up to history, reflect on their crimes and make a fresh start."

(Compiled by Wang Ruofan and intern Yang Ziyu）