Japanese FM slams Chongqing paper's illustration of atomic cloud  

重庆报纸登核爆日本地图 日称无法容忍将抗议(图)

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida on Tuesday condemned a Chinese newspaper after it printed a map of Japan with a mushroom cloud marked over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in a report that criticizes Japan for its change of pacifist stance.

On July 1, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet adopted a resolution to reinterpret Japan's Peace Constitution, which allows more freedom of military actions. The move was harshly criticized by China and South Korea who retain lingering memories of military brutality by Japanese troops during World War II.

Chongqing Youth News, a weekly newspaper based in Chongqing Municipality, released the map with a headline saying "Japan Wants a War Again" on Thursday as an illustration for a report. The newspaper also published a commentary criticizing Japan's change of stance with a headline that reads "Were We Too Friendly Toward Japan in the Past?"

According to the Japan Times, Kishida slammed the newspaper as "imprudent" and said the map would offend survivors of the atomic bombings.

"As foreign minister of the only country that has suffered from atomic bombings and a lawmaker from bombed Hiroshima, I can never tolerate" such a report, The Japan Times quoted Kishida as saying.

Kishida slammed the headline allegation "Japan Wants a War Again," and took the opportunity to defend the move by Abe's cabinet of changing Japan's pacifist constitution.

Mozomu Kibayashi, a press officer from the Consulate-General of Japan in Chongqing, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the consulate-general will make a verbal protest against the paper.

"We hope that they will issue a statement of apology in the newspaper," Kibayashi said.

An editor from the Chongqing Youth News, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Global Times that the paper's editorial committee is discussing the matter and "although there is no confirmed response yet, the editor-in-chief attaches great importance to the event."