"It (a meeting) should have results aimed at improving relations," he was quoted as saying.

Ties between the two nations have markedly soured since Koizumi began his annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine in 2001, the year he took office.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso pauses during remarks at a Center for Strategic and International Studies forum on Wednesday, May 3, 2006 in Washington. [AP]

Wu said that holding a meeting would not mean that China was dropping the issue.

"If there are people who think that talks ... prove that Prime Minister Koizumi's shrine visits have no major impact on Sino-Japanese relations, that would be wrong," he was quoted as saying.

The two nations are set to resume talks next week over a disputed undersea gas field, the fifth round of negotiations that have so far proved fruitless.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said on Tuesday that Beijing and Tokyo remain far from compromise over the gas fields under seas between the two nations.

At the last round of gas talks in March, Japanese media said China proposed joint development of an area around isles in the East China Sea claimed by both sides.

Japan is likely to reject the plan at next week's talks, Kyodo said on Tuesday.