China Thursday expressed strong indignation at Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine in disregard of the opposition from people of China and other Asian countries.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi lodged solemn representations over Koizumi's shrine visit and condemned the act when he summoned the charged affaires ad interim of Japan to China to an interview.

The shrine honors Class-A war criminals whose hands were blotted with blood of people of China and other Asian countries, Wang said.

Prime Minister Koizumi' shrine visit not only went back on his promise to reflect history but also impaired the political basis of Sino-Japanese relations, he said.

The Chinese people cannot accept such actions by a Japanese leader, he stressed.

"Taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future" is the only right attitude to historical issues, Wang stressed.

The Chinese Embassy to Japan also made solemn representations to the Japanese government Thursday.  

The Republic of Korea Thursday also expressed regret over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to a controversial shrine honoring Japanese war dead including World War II criminals.

"Our government expresses deep regret that Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi paid homage at Yasukuni Shrine housing mortuary tablets to war criminals who undermined world peace and inflicted intolerable damage and pain on our people," South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Shin Bong-kil said in a statement.

"We strongly urge him not to visit the shrine again." It was the first time that the South Korean government directly demanded the Japanese prime minister stop his annual shrine visit.

Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese war dead, including a number of Class-A war criminals who fought for Japan in World War II.

Shin said that South Korea cannot understand why Japan's top leader insists on visiting the controversial shrine despite opposition from the South Korean government.

"We feel anger mixed with worry about the fact that the feelings of our people were hurt again," he said.

Koizumi should respect the positions of its neighboring nations and the feelings of their peoples if he really wants to develop friendly ties with these countries, the spokesman added. 

(Xinhua News Agency January 2, 2004)