TOKYO —
Japan on Monday protested against a Chinese memorial to a Korean who assassinated a Japanese official over a century ago, branding him a terrorist and saying the move did not help repair deteriorating ties.
China's ties with Japan have long been colored by what Beijing considers Tokyo's failure to atone for its brutal occupation of parts of the country and what it sees as whitewashing of atrocities in school textbooks.
The memorial in question honors Ahn Jung-geun, who in 1909 killed Hirobumi Ito, a former top Japanese official in Korea, which at that time was occupied by Japan.
Ito was killed in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, the site of the memorial. Ahn was convicted and executed in 1910.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Monday that Japan would protest the move through diplomatic channels.
“The coordinated move by China and South Korea based on a one-sided view [of history] is not conducive to building peace and stability,” in East Asia, Suga said. “The move is truly regrettable as we had made our stance and our concerns clear to the Chinese and South Korean governments.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Ahn was well respected in China and that it was totally proper to set up a memorial.
“We cannot accept this so-called protest,” Hong told a daily news briefing. “We demand Japan earnestly face up to history and reflect on it.”
Ahn is seen in Korea as a symbol of the fight against Japanese colonial rule. Ito served four terms as Japanese prime minister and is viewed as a key architect of its first constitution.
China's ties with Japan have deteriorated over the last year due to a row over a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea, China's setting up of an air defense identification zone and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honored along with war dead.
Both China and Korea suffered under Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonized from 1910 to 1945.
China's ties with Japan have long been colored by what Beijing considers Tokyo's failure to atone for its brutal occupation of parts of the country and what it sees as whitewashing of atrocities in school textbooks.
The memorial in question honors Ahn Jung-geun, who in 1909 killed Hirobumi Ito, a former top Japanese official in Korea, which at that time was occupied by Japan.
Ito was killed in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin, the site of the memorial. Ahn was convicted and executed in 1910.
Japanese chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Monday that Japan would protest the move through diplomatic channels.
“The coordinated move by China and South Korea based on a one-sided view [of history] is not conducive to building peace and stability,” in East Asia, Suga said. “The move is truly regrettable as we had made our stance and our concerns clear to the Chinese and South Korean governments.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Ahn was well respected in China and that it was totally proper to set up a memorial.
“We cannot accept this so-called protest,” Hong told a daily news briefing. “We demand Japan earnestly face up to history and reflect on it.”
Ahn is seen in Korea as a symbol of the fight against Japanese colonial rule. Ito served four terms as Japanese prime minister and is viewed as a key architect of its first constitution.
China's ties with Japan have deteriorated over the last year due to a row over a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea, China's setting up of an air defense identification zone and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honored along with war dead.
Both China and Korea suffered under Japanese rule, with parts of China occupied in the 1930s and Korea colonized from 1910 to 1945.
