Suga sends offering to notorious shrine

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga sent a ritual offering on Wednesday to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, seen as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, on the occasion of its spring festival.

Suga will not, however, visit the controversial shrine in person during the two-day festival which runs through Thursday.

The Japanese leader took the same approach for the shrine's autumn festival last October when he also sent a ritual "masakaki "tree offering. His cabinet members also refrained from visiting the shrine during the last autumn festival.

Suga's ministers have said they will refrain from visiting the war-linked shrine in the upcoming days, although Health Minister Norihisa Tamura and Shinji Inoue, the minister for the world exposition in Osaka, also sent ritual trees to the spring festival.

China said on Wednesday that it opposes the wrong practice of Suga sending the ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine, urging Tokyo to face up to and reflect upon its history of aggression, and draw a clear line with militarism.

Japan should take concrete measures to earn the trust of its Asian neighbors and the international community, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a daily news briefing.

He urged Japan to observe the principles of the four political documents and implement the four point-principled consensus between the two countries.

Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 Class-A convicted war criminals in World War II along with its historically inaccurate museum, is a testament to Japan's past militarism. The shrine has long been a source of diplomatic friction between Japan and its neighbors.

Strong criticism

Visits and ritual offerings made in person or by proxy to the infamous shrine by Japanese leaders, officials and lawmakers have consistently sparked strong criticism from and hurt the feelings of China and South Korea and other countries brutalized by Japan during the war.

Suga's predecessor, ex-prime minister Shinzo Abe was the last prime minister to visit the controversial shrine in person in December 2013, when he was strongly condemned by China and South Korea, as well as the United States, who said at the time it was disappointed with Abe's decision.

Xinhua and Zhou Jin in Beijing contributed to this story.