China Condemns Japanese Officials’ Yasukuni Shrine Visits
China’s Foreign Ministry issued a strongly worded condemnation on Saturday after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering to the Yasukuni Shrine and four Cabinet ministers visited the war-linked site on the 81st anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Beijing stated it had lodged “serious representations and strong protests” with Tokyo over the actions.
The ministry’s official statement described the shrine as “the spiritual tool and symbol of Japanese militarism,” noting that the 14 Class-A war criminals enshrined there were “the chief culprits behind the aggressive war.” The spokesperson said the visits represent “a desecration of historical justice, a challenge to the bottom line of civilization, and a provocation against the post-war international order.”
A Day of Contested Memory
August 15 marks the anniversary of Japan’s unconditional surrender in 1945, a date observed in China as the Japanese surrender day and in Japan as the memorial day for the war dead. This year’s observance was particularly significant, coming on the 80th anniversary of the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal, which convicted Japanese wartime leaders for crimes against peace.
According to The Mainichi, Takaichi sent a ritual offering (tamagushi) to the shrine as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), paying for it out of her own pocket. Four sitting Cabinet ministers—Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, Minister of State for Policies Related to Children Hitoshi Kikawada, Economic Security Minister Kimi Onoda, and Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Minoru Kiuchi—visited the shrine in person.
Koizumi’s visit marked the first time a sitting defense minister has visited the shrine on the August 15 anniversary since 2024, when Minoru Kihara—now Chief Cabinet Secretary in Takaichi’s government—did so. It is also the seventh consecutive year that sitting Cabinet ministers have visited the shrine on this date.
Unprecedented LDP Leadership Visit
In an unprecedented move, LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki, General Council head Haruko Arimura, and Election Strategy Committee head Yasutoshi Nishimura jointly visited the shrine—marking the first time senior LDP leadership has collectively done so on this date, as China Daily reported. The planned collective visit of the party’s “four horsemen” was incomplete because Policy Research Council head Taro Kobayashi returned to his constituency in Chiba Prefecture to handle flood disaster response.
Suzuki told reporters: “I fully understand how President Takaichi feels about the spirits of the war dead, so I visited the shrine with her feelings in mind.” Analysts have interpreted the collective leadership visit as a substitute for Takaichi’s own visit—a way to appease right-wing voters while avoiding the diplomatic consequences of a prime ministerial visit.
Koizumi defended his visit in a post on X, saying: “While pledging never to wage war again, I have renewed my determination to continue fulfilling Japan’s responsibility as a peace-loving nation that has consistently walked the path of peace since the end of the war.”
Takaichi’s Speech Omits Reflection
At the national memorial ceremony for war dead later on Saturday, Takaichi said Japan would “never let the tragedy of war repeat,” but notably did not mention “reflection” or Japan’s responsibility for atrocities committed in Asian countries, as Guancha reported. Instead, she described Japan as capable of becoming “a shining lighthouse in the Indo-Pacific region and a country worthy of trust from all nations.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s statement via Xinhua urged Japan to “deeply reflect on its history of aggression, completely sever ties with militarism, and win the trust of Asian neighbors and the international community through concrete actions.”
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Chen Xi issued a separate warning about Japan’s “new militarism,” pointing to the country’s record-high 2027 defense budget request of approximately 8.9 trillion yen. “Going down the wrong path again will only lead to more bitter defeat and more thorough reckoning,” Chen said.
Broader Diplomatic Context
The shrine visits come amid already strained Japan-China relations. Takaichi suggested in November 2025 that an attack on Taiwan could present a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, drawing sharp criticism from Beijing. She has nevertheless expressed hope for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in China in November.
Japanese peace activists have also voiced strong opposition to the politicians’ actions. Professor Kiyoshi Koike of Yamaguchi University called the shrine “an aggression shrine and a hotbed of militarist ideology,” warning that Takaichi’s offering “shows the world that Japan’s ruling authorities endorse the ideological source of aggressive war.”
What to Watch
The Yasukuni controversy is likely to further complicate Japan-China relations as both countries navigate a delicate diplomatic landscape. Takaichi’s balancing act—appeasing conservative domestic constituencies while seeking to avoid further deterioration in relations with Beijing and Seoul—will remain a defining challenge of her premiership. The question now is whether the escalating pattern of shrine visits will have lasting consequences for regional diplomacy, or whether both sides will seek to contain the damage through quiet channels.