China says Japan's protest over war museum photos shows lack of courage

Demands by Japanese lawmakers that China remove anti-Japanese photos from Chinese war museums show their lack of courage to recognize Japan's past wrongdoings, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

"The war of invasion triggered by Japanese militarism brought about great disaster to the Chinese people," Qin Gang said at a regular news conference. "Keeping memory of that period of history is not meant to maintain bad feelings, but to prevent a repetition of tragedy." Demands to pull pictures from museums "only reflect the lack of courage to recognize mistakes in history," he added.