The Chinese government summoned Japan's ambassador Friday to issue a protest after a minister in Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Cabinet and about 160 lawmakers visited the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin summoned Japanese Ambassador Masato Kitera to express "strong condemnation" of the visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press conference.

The shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, is seen in China and other parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism because it also honors Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal.