This April 21, 2020 file photo shows Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. (Mainichi)

       BEIJING (Kyodo) -- China and Russia have criticized recent visits by some Japanese Cabinet members to the war-linked Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, pledging that the two countries will jointly defend the truth of history, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

       During their phone talks on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that Beijing and Moscow should join hands to "oppose any attempt to whitewash or glorify militarism" and "stem any scheme to falsify history."

       Wang's remarks came after Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga sent an offering and three members of his Cabinet paid visits to the Shinto shrine on Sunday as the Asian nation marked the 76th anniversary of the end of World War II.

       Established in 1869 to commemorate those who died in wars for Japan, Yasukuni in 1978 added wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo and other convicted war criminals to the more than 2.4 million war dead enshrined there.

       Since the 1980s, the shrine has been a source of diplomatic friction with Japan's neighbors, particularly China and South Korea. Japan had invaded a huge swath of China by the end of the war, while Japan ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

       The latest Yasukuni visits are a "challenge to human conscience and international justice" and "all peace-loving countries and people cannot tolerate and should denounce Japan's act," Wang was quoted by his ministry as telling Lavrov.

       Lavrov echoed the view, saying Russia and China should "oppose any attempt to smear history," according to the ministry.

       China has urged Japanese political leaders to change what it calls their wrong attitude toward Yasukuni, saying it enshrines "Class-A war criminals who were directly responsible" for Japan's war of aggression.

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