NEW YORK, Feb. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- A New York Times editorial on Monday criticized Japan's new Foreign Minister Taro Aso for making"inflammatory statements" about Japan's history which were offensive to other Asian nations.

    The new minister "has been neither honest nor wise in the inflammatory statements he has been making about Japan's disastrous era of militarism, colonialism and war crimes that culminated in the Second World War," the editorial said.

    It said Taro Aso was also doing a disservice to the people of Japan where public discourse and history lessons in schools "have never properly come to terms with the country's responsibility" for the sexual enslavement of young Korean women, biological warfare experiments on Chinese prisoners, and the slaughter of numerous civilians in the Chinese city of Nanjing.

    The editorial cited two of the most recent appalling remarks by Aso, one being his suggestion that Japan's emperor visit the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese war criminals are honored, the other being his claim that Taiwan owes its high educational standards to enlightened Japanese policies during its 50-year occupation by Japan.

    Aso has also been going out of his way to inflame Japan's already difficult relations with Beijing by stating that China's long-term military buildup posed a "considerable threat" to Japan,the editorial said.

    "Mr. Aso's sense of diplomacy is as odd as his sense of history," the editorial concluded. Enditem