Top > World > 2006 > October > 2006-10-09

Japanese Premier Visits China

The new prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, has paid a visit to the Chinese capital of Beijing as regional worry-causer North Korea maintained its right to test a nuclear weapon due to what it terms as threats to Pyongyang from the United States. Abe, referred to as an extreme nationalist by some in the region, has an unenviable task as his term of office really begins to pick up steam following the retirement of Junichiro Koizumi, Japan?s ?rock star?-esque prime minister and the appointment by his political party of Abe to replace him.

China is one of many nations, including both on the Korean peninsula, that still seek to hold Japan accountable for its actions during the Second World War. Japanese troops invaded China, carved out a puppet state they called ?Manchukuo?, and killed tens of thousands during battles and occupations.

Korea was under Japan?s colonial control until the end of the Second World War, and has been divided ever since the days preceding the Korean War of the 1950s created the stalemate that continues on the peninsula to this day. Former prime minister Koizumi?s visits to the Yasukuni War Memorial Shrine had frayed ties between Beijing and Tokyo even as China remained a far worse violator of human rights over the long-term than Japan?s military regime of the mid-20th century.