, said that Koizumi had delivered a speech at the Memorial Hall of the War of Resistance to Japanese Aggression during his visit to China last October, in which he admitted Japan was responsible for the aggression, said he pondered deeply about the aggression carried out during the war and expressed heartfelt sorrow for it and apologized profoundly.
Six months later, while his words were still reverberating in Chinese people's ears, Koizumi visited the shrine again.
His erroneous action deeply hurt the feelings of Chinese and all Asian people and severely damaged Japan's image internationally.
Luo Huanzhang, a research fellow with China's Military Academy of Sciences pointed out that with Japan's economic downturn, Koizumi intended to boost his flagging popularity by visiting the shrine even though he risked the world's condemnation by doing so.
This type of political gambling is doomed to failure and his action must be strongly condemned as it is a political provocation to the people in China and in the rest of Asia.
All the experts and scholars finally stressed that as this year marks the 65 anniversary of the July 7, 1937 incident and the 30th anniversary of the normalization of Sino-Japanese relations, the Japanese government should use history as a mirror and look forward to the future.
The Japanese government should also attach great importance to the solemn and just stand of Chinese government and introspect the war of aggression so as to win the trust of the Asian people.
(Xinhua News Agency April 24, 2002)
