When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine last month, Chinese leaders predictably condemned his decision to honor those behind "the war of aggression against China." But Abe was also sending a message to Japan's main ally and defender, the United States.
Faced with U.S. President Barack Obama's reluctance to challenge China's muscle-flexing and territorial ambitions in Asia — reflected in Japan's recent split with the U.S. over China's new air defense identification zone (ADIZ) — an increasingly desperate Abe was compelled to let both countries know that restraint cannot be one-sided.
For China and South Korea, the Yasukuni Shrine's inclusion of 14 Class A war criminals — half of whom were executed for World War II-related war crimes (the other half died of illness before or after conviction) — has made it a potent symbol of Japan's prewar militarism. Abe had long refrained from visiting it as prime minister.