Japan's ruling party vowed to continue visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and push ahead constitutional revision, leading the country in a far-right direction.
China on Monday warned against any provocative action and escalation by Japan on the Diaoyu Islands issue in response to a reported plan by Japan to claim the islands in a guideline for creating school textbooks.
Japan has sent senior diplomats on far-flung missions worldwide to justify the visit by Shinzo Abe to Yasukuni Shrine, which honors war criminals.
China is taking a tougher stance toward Japan, observers said, after a state councilor condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to a shrine honoring its war dead, including war criminals.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's visit to the WWII Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Thursday, is a dangerous step toward militarism and will lead to further deterioration of China-Japan relations, and regional stability.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the war-linked Yasukuni shrine despite strong opposition from neighboring countries.
Since he took the helm in Japan for a second time on Dec 26, 2012, hawkish Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been paving the way for Japan to "escape from the postwar regime".
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has demonstrated New Year's diplomatic resolution with plans to visit at least six nations in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
Hawkish Japanese PM Shinzo Abe celebrated the first anniversary of his second premiership by insulting Japan's neighbors and the rest of the world.
China has established its first air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone.
Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated that foreign international airlines’ normal flight activities in the East China Sea ADIZ will not be affected.
The Ministry of National Defense issued a statement on establishing the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone.