Cool economic ties with Japan

On Dec 26, 2013, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the notorious Yasukuni Shrine that worships Japanese Class A war criminals. Both China and the Republic of Korea immediately issued strong condemnations.

In China, there is a saying that "a good neighbor is better than a distant relative." That's why China always seeks to keep good relations with neighboring countries. But Japan doesn't. It always feels arrogant, because it has a powerful distant relative - Uncle Sam, it doesn't care about keeping good relations with its neighbors. Having "coldness" in politics while still maintaining "warmness" in the economy will not compel Japan to admit its mistakes. Only if both aspects become "cold" will Japan change its attitude.

Currently, some Japanese right-wing politicians treat the Yasukuni Shrine as a spiritual weapon. The purpose of the visits by Japan's right-wing politicians is nothing other than worshipping militarism. This spiritual weapon is more dangerous than other weapons, which is a threat to world peace. From the visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese politicians over the past three decades people should realize that new militarism has been emerging in Japan. Japanese militarism once brought disaster not only to the people in other countries, but also to the Japanese people themselves. This is a historical lesson that we cannot forget. The whole world should remain alert about Japan's revival of militarism.

Tang Shaoyou, via e-mail

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(China Daily 01/20/2014 page9)