Japanese Lawmakers to Visit War Shrine in Move Likely to Enrage China More

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBRUDM1Q7E.html

Japanese Lawmakers to Visit War Shrine in Move Likely to Enrage China Further

TOKYO (AP) - Inflaming already tense relations with China, Japanese lawmakers said Tuesday they plan to visit a shrine that critics say glorifies their country's militarist past, and a Tokyo court ruled against Chinese victims of Japanese wartime atrocities. snip

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang noted that the dead honored at Yasukuni include executed war criminals, whom he called the "planners and conspirators" of World War II.

"We hope the Japanese leaders could fully respect the people in the victimized countries in Asia, including the Chinese people," Qin said at a regular news briefing. He called on Japanese leaders to "refrain from doing anything that might harm the feelings of Asian people."

Also infuriating China, a Tokyo court rejected demands to compensate Chinese victims of atrocities committed by Japan's military in the 1930s and 40s, including the use of biological weapons.

Historians estimate that the military unit that took part in wartime germ experiments may have killed as many as 250,000 people - including vivisections of Chinese prisoners.

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[Kagemusha]

1. Outrage comes in a package deal this morning.

Just what Asia needed.

[bemildred]

2. I guess we need a distraction from Taiwan and Korea

and all the chaos in China.