- China protested against Japanese Internal Affairs and Communication Minister’s visit to the Yasukuni war shrine(which honours Japan’s civilian war dead but also includes 14 class-A war criminals), straining relationships between the two countries that have been at loggerheads over wartime history. South Korea and USA also expressed disappointment.
- China and Japan have been disputing over the East China Sea islands known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan. While China and South Korea have alleged the Japanese Abe govt of attempting to manipulate the history of wartime Japanese occupation, Japan alleges that China has been attempting to alter the status quo of the Japanese-administered islands by deploying vessels in disputed waters.
- Japan also said that this week aircraft were scrambled (scrambling is the act of quickly getting military aircraft airborne to react to an immediate threat, usually to intercept hostile aircraft) a record 415 times in response to Chinese jets, and that 3 Chinese coastguard ships had sailed through disputed waters.
- Read at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/china-protests-japan-ministers-shrine-visit/article5906737.ece
Exams Perspective:
- What is Yakusuni shrine?
- Land dispute between China and Japan.