China's top envoy to the United Nations on Wednesday criticized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to Yasukuni Shrine, questioning the conservative leader's motives and warning the international community to "remain vigilant."

"To pay homage to such a place, where the war criminals are enshrined, is a fundamental question bearing on the charter of the United Nations," Ambassador Liu Jieyu said, noting many Class-A war criminals are enshrined there.

"It all boils down to whether a leader of a country should stand on the side of maintaining the principles and the purposes of the charter of the United Nations or to side with war criminals," he said.