Japan should explain shrine visits better - Abe
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-01-09 10:27

Japan should try harder to convince China that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a shrine for war dead do not glorify militarism, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, a top contender to succeed Koizumi, said on Sunday.

But Abe also indicated he too might pay his respects at the shrine, seen in Beijing and Seoul as a symbol of Tokyo's past military aggression, if he became prime minister in September.

Japan's ties with China and South Korea have chilled markedly since Koizumi took office in 2001 and began annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals convicted by an Allied war tribunal are honoured along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead.

On Wednesday, Koizumi rejected criticism of his pilgrimages and said he could not comprehend why foreign countries should make a diplomatic fuss over a "matter of the heart".

Asked if he shared that view, Abe -- who has long backed the prime minister's shrine visits -- told Fuji TV: "The criticism that the Yasukuni visits are linked to militarism is based on a misunderstanding. If there is criticism based on a misunderstanding, naturally, we should try to resolve that."

He added: "I can understand that this is easily misunderstood and that it is easy for the people of China to feel pain because of their memories of the past ... and I don't think we have done enough to resolve that misunderstanding."

Asked, however, if he would visit Yasukuni if he became prime minister, Abe said: "As one politician or one citizen, I want to pay respect to those who fought for their country and I want to maintain that sentiment."

Abe said the visits were not intended to insult China, and echoed Koizumi's stance that it was a mistake for Beijing to close the door to top-level talks because of the Yasukuni visits.

Nor should the shrine dispute be allowed to affect ties in other areas, including burgeoning economic relations, he said.

Chinese and Japanese diplomats are set to meet on Monday in Beijing to discuss what Tokyo said would be a broad range of issues. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said the "informal working engagement" would focus on ways to develop energy resources in disputed areas of the East China Sea.

Known for taking a tough stance towards China and North Korea, Abe, 51, typically tops the list in surveys when voters are asked whom they see as most suited to succeed Koizumi.

He far outstrips others such as former chief cabinet secretary Yasuo Fukuda, a critic of Koizumi's Yasukuni visits.

Koizumi has said he has no plans to stay on after his term as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party expires in September.

Pundits have forecast that Sino-Japanese ties would stay cool if Abe took over as prime minister.