news

in response to japanese defense minister minoru kihara's visit to the yasukuni shrine, chinese defense ministry spokesman wu qian said in beijing on the 29th:china demands that japan earnestly face up to and profoundly reflect on its history of aggression and take practical actions to win the trust of its asian neighbors and the international community. china will never allow militarism to make a comeback.

on the same day, the chinese ministry of national defense held a regular press conference. at the meeting, a reporter asked, "it is reported that japanese defense minister kihara minoru recently visited the yasukuni shrine, and the training officers of the japanese maritime self-defense force training fleet also visited the shrine collectively in may this year. what comments does the spokesperson have?"

wu qian said that the yasukuni shrine is a spiritual tool and symbol of japanese militarism in launching foreign wars of aggression. a series of actions by the japanese side once again show that although japan has surrendered for 79 years, the legacy of militarism in its country has not yet dissipated. in recent years, japan has continuously hollowed out its peace constitution, tried its best to get rid of the restrictions of its exclusive defense policy, significantly increased its defense budget, stepped up military ties with countries outside the region, and continued to rush down the dangerous path of arms expansion, which deserves high vigilance from neighboring countries and the international community.

wu qian said,forgetting history means betrayal. china demands that japan truly face up to and deeply reflect on its history of aggression, and win the trust of its asian neighbors and the international community with concrete actions. china will never allow militarism to make a comeback.

another reporter asked, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the memorandum of understanding between the government of the people's republic of china and the government of japan on the destruction of chemical weapons abandoned by japan in china. we also noticed that shimizu hideo, a former member of the unit 731 of the japanese army that invaded china, went to the unit 731 crime evidence exhibition hall and the former site of unit 731 to identify the unit's crimes and apologize. please ask the spokesperson to introduce the progress of relevant work.

wu qian pointed out that the japanese chemical weapons are a major historical legacy and a major current issue caused by the japanese militarist invasion of china. during the second world war, the japanese invaders blatantly violated international law and shipped a large number of chemical weapons to china. they also launched a heinous bacteriological warfare against the chinese people, causing a large number of casualties among chinese soldiers and civilians, and committed serious crimes against humanity. after the defeat, in order to cover up its heinous crimes, japanese militarism secretly abandoned a large number of chemical weapons in china, which still harm the well-being of the chinese people and poison china's ecological environment today. these facts are irrefutable and cannot be denied.

"the chinese government and military have been urging japan to resolve the issue of its chemical weapons as soon as possible, safely, cleanly and thoroughly, and to provide cooperation in accordance with the relevant spirit of the chemical weapons convention and the china-japan intergovernmental memorandum." wu qian said that the chinese military has invested a large number of troops in investigation and confirmation, escort and custody, destruction and emergency response, and has effectively promoted the disposal process.with china's strong assistance, japan has excavated and recovered 130,000 chemical weapons and destroyed nearly 100,000 of them. however, due to insufficient technical and financial input from japan, the disposal process has been seriously delayed and the destruction plan has been overdue many times.

wu qian stressed that it is japan's unshirkable historical, political and legal responsibility to eliminate the poisonous harm caused by japan's chemical weapons. china requires japan to face up to history, sincerely apologize, earnestly fulfill the obligations of international conventions and bilateral memorandums, further increase investment, provide effective clues and information, fully, completely and accurately implement the plan for the destruction of japan's chemical weapons after 2022, and spare no effort to accelerate the destruction process, so as to return a piece of pure land to the chinese people as soon as possible.

source:china news service