Chinese ambassador to Slovenia : Japan owes apology to China

Japan owes an apology to 35 million Chinese victims of World War II, Chinese Ambassador to Slovenia Zhang Xianyi said in a signed article published by Slovenian newspaper Vecer. In the article published Friday, Zhang strongly denounced Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit a month ago to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where Class-A war criminals of World War II are worshiped. The shrine was the "spiritual instrument and symbol of Japanese militarism in its war of aggression and colonial rule during World War II," read the article. The war of aggression against China waged by militarist Japan inflicted untold calamities on the Chinese people, and China suffered as many as 35 million casualties and 600 billion U.S. dollars in direct and indirect losses, the ambassador wrote in the article. He mentioned the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, saying it is "widely recognized as the tragedy of World War II" as Japanese aggressor troops killed 300,000 Chinese people in the city of Nanjing. "The evidence is irrefutable, but Japan has never sincerely faced this atrocity," he wrote, adding that Abe's paying homage to the Yasukuni Shrine is just like someone presenting flowers to Hitler's tomb. "It is a brazen challenge to all the victimized peoples in the Japanese militarist war of aggression and to the outcome of World War II and the post-war order." Abe's shrine visit sparked outrage and serious concerns from South Korea, the United States, Russia, the European Union and other countries, even including some Japanese people who also expressed dissatisfaction and disappointment, the article read. "We will never allow Japan to overthrow the verdict on its history of aggression or turn back the wheel of history. We stand ready to work with the rest of the world to jointly uphold historical justice and world peace." In the article, Ambassador Zhang also referred to China's and Slovenia's experience in World War II, saying both "suffered from Nazi and militarist aggression and paid a painful price." "The victorious outcomes of the world's anti-Fascist War and the post-war world order were achieved with the loss of the lives and blood of the people of China, Slovenia and the rest of the world," the ambassador noted.