Relations between China and Japan worsened after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the Yakukuni shrine commemorating the country’s war dead in 2013. China said the move was essentially honoring Japan's war criminals.
“If the leaders of Japan can face history squarely and maintain consistency on how they view history, there will be a new opportunity for the improvement and further growth of the China-Japan relationship,” Li Keqiang said at a press conference after the National People’s Congress in Beijing as quoted by the South China Morning Post.
According to the official, Japanese leaders need to “show their responsibility for the crimes committed in the past.”
Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida later said his country should not be simply compared to Germany in terms of post-World War II settlements.
Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany, along with Italy, were a part of the Axis alliance during World War II, fighting against the Allied forces comprising the Soviet Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and others.
The Japanese military committed numerous war crimes, including mass killings of Chinese, Indonesian, Filipino populations, as well as those of other occupied territories.
