By CAI HONG in Tokyo and ZHANG YUNBI in Beijing (China Daily) 07:31, January 13, 2014
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Japan has sent senior diplomats on far-flung missions worldwide to justify thetroublemaking pilgrimage by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the controversial YasukuniShrine, which honors convicted war criminals.
Meanwhile, more than a dozen Chinese ambassadors around the globe published articles inleading newspapers recently to criticize the hypocrisy behind the hawkish Japaneseleader's "no war" pledges.
Ichita Yamamoto, Japan's minister in charge of Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues, startedhis six-day tour to Southeast Asia on Sunday to justify Abe's Dec 26 pilgrimage to theshrine, local media said.
Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Nobuo Kishi, the younger brother of Abe, will visit theUnited States from Monday to Friday, and Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun said hisitinerary will include "explanations about the actual considerations" behind Abe's homage.
Abe's visit not only worsened Japan's diplomatic deadlocks with China and South Korea butalso prompted a rare publicly statement of disappointment from the United States.
The Abe Cabinet is now busy with damage control because "few voices outside Japandefended Abe's right-wing style pilgrimage", and there has been a consensus worldwidethat such an offensive homage poses an impending threat to the peace and stability of theAsia-Pacific region, said Yang Bojiang, deputy director of the Institute of Japan Studies atthe Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Both the Japanese defense minister and foreign minister served as firefighters, putting outthe flames set by Abe, during their respective New Year's trips abroad last week.
"Abe had underestimated the magnitude of the strong reactions from around the world(before his shrine visit), and he had not foreseen such criticism," Yang said.
At least 13 Chinese ambassadors have had articles published blasting Abe's visit, spanningfrom Europe to Africa and North America.
Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the US, wrote in an opinion article published in theWashington Post on Thursday that the Yasukuni Shrine is "ground zero for theunrepentant view of Japan's wartime aggression".
"Abe is prime minister, his homage has implications inside and outside Japan. It is by nomeans the act of a private individual," wrote Cui, the Chinese ambassador to Japan from2007 to 2009.
In a Friday article published by Russia's Interfax news agency, Chinese Ambassador toRussia Li Hui said Abe's move challenged generally accepted rules and norms and was "anopen provocation against justice in international relations and insolent trampling ofmankind's common sense".
Publishing articles in influential newspapers is an effective way to boost public diplomacyand deliver needed information to the people there, said Ruan Zongze, vice-president ofthe China Institute of International Studies.
"Those nations have unforgettable memories of World War II, and many of them wereeven the contracting parties of key postwar legal documents, such as the Declaration ofCairo," Ruan said.
Abe has ordered Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to require embassies around the worldto fight back and publicize his pledge of "no war" during the pilgrimage, Japan's Jiji newsagency confirmed on Friday.
"Abe is seeking another confrontation between Japan and China in the international arenaof public diplomacy," said Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the Institute of ModernInternational Relations at Tsinghua University.
Tensions on the East China Sea were once again stirred by Tokyo on Sunday. Theparachute unit of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Forces conducted a routine NewYear's drill on Sunday and mobilized around 300 soldiers.
The theme of the drill focused on the scenario of retaking remote islands from China,Japan's Asahi Television reported.
Local media on Sunday also confirmed that the Japanese Education Ministry is discussingimposing Japan's claim over China's Diaoyu Islands into the Course of Study — teachingmanuals for the nation's junior and senior high schools.
（Editor：ZhangQian、Yao Chun）
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