Homage at Yasukuni an affront to Asian people

People around the world marked the 79th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War as well as Chinese people's victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) on Tuesday. Yet, Ukraine's ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky paid a pilgrimage to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, a symbol of Japan's militaristic and colonial past.

The Ukrainian embassy in Japan released a message on its X handle saying the ambassador visited the shrine to "pay homage to the martyrs who died for the Japanese nation". In so saying, the ambassador and his embassy have shown their lack of the most basic knowledge of history.

Everyone knows that the Yasukuni Shrine honors a number of Class-A war criminals who were convicted by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Calling these war criminals martyrs who died for Japan is undoubtedly a major affront to the feelings of Asian people, including Chinese people, whose countries suffered the barbarous invasion by Japanese militarists, and a gross breach of the international society's bottom line.

Chinese people defeated the Japanese invaders and this historic moment deserves to be remembered by all peace-loving people, including the Ukrainian people.

Over the past more than two years since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China has maintained a neutral position and worked hard to broker peace between the two warring parties. During his visit to China in late July, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba explicitly expressed thanks to China for its neutrality. It is inadvisable for the Ukrainian ambassador in Japan to pay homage to the Yasukuni Shrine and offend China.