China has reacted strongly to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's announcement that he will visit Yasukuni Shrine on Aug. 15, Japan's anniversary of the end of World War II. Coupled with the history textbook issue, the statement has again unsettled Tokyo's relations with Beijing.
Backed by public approval ratings of over 80 percent, Koizumi is pushing ahead with his plan to carry out economic reforms in an "open and bold" way. In diplomatic relations with China and South Korea, however, he is taking a conservative stance. One wonders why he gave the foreign minister's post to Makiko Tanaka, who is said to be a Sinophile.
Regarding the textbook issue, the government has skirted responsibility, saying in effect that it cannot bend the historical interpretation of a privately edited textbook. In respect to a Yasukuni visit by the prime minister, however, it should not take an equivocal attitude.