Update: Japan urged to thoroughly investigate into harassment of Chinese diplomatic missions: spokesperson

BEIJING, April 17 (Xinhua) -- There have been continuous harassment and provocation targeting China's diplomatic missions in Japan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday, urging Japan to reflect on and correct its policy and behavior, conduct a thorough probe and take full responsibility for such incidents.

A series of grave offenses have occurred recently, including the embassy break-in by a sitting Self-Defense Forces (SDF) officer carrying a knife, Guo said at a regular news briefing.

The recurrence of this kind of egregious incidents reveals multiple deep-seated issues in today's Japan: the worsening right-wing impact and the suppression of objective and rational voices, the toxicity of the Japanese government's erroneous policies on vital issues concerning China-Japan relations such as history and Taiwan, the serious lack of education on true history, the pervasive erroneous historical views, the ongoing push for a more offensive, expansionist and dangerous defense policy and failure in supervising the SDF and maintaining discipline inside the forces, Guo said.

How to fundamentally address the issue and remove its breeding ground in the Japanese society deserves serious pondering by those with insights in Japan, he said.

"Soft-pedaling such incidents and even distracting attention from them or spreading disinformation will only lead to more such incidents with even more dreadful consequences, and put more Japanese people under its harmful impact. The malevolent emergence of neo-militarism in Japan could also threaten peace and stability in the region," Guo said.  ■