CHINA-JAPAN: YASUKUNI SHRINE VISIT
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Xinhua quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei as saying at a daily press briefing that China calls on the Japanese government to distance itself from militarism following the visit on January 9, 2015 by Premier Shinzo Abe to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine. Hong Lei said: "China's stance on visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese leaders is firm and clear, [As long as] Japan earnestly faces up to and profoundly reflects upon its aggressive history, and distances itself from militarism, then China-Japan ties can develop in a sound and stable way."
Meanwhile,Japan's Kyodo News Agency reiterated that dayt Friday that it viewed visits by its leaders to the Yasukuni Shrine as "constitutional", as long as the purpose was to mourn those that had fallen in war and not as a religious exercise.
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