Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi again
criticized China on Monday for refusing summit talks over his visits to the
war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, saying the visits should not be blamed in
any sense.
"It would make no sense for China not to hold summit talks
because of the visits to Yasukuni Shrine," Koizumi said in a House of
Councillors Budget Committee session, while reiterating that he is an advocate
of Japan-China friendship.
"One who pays visits with a sense of condolences for the war dead on the
basis of regrets of the war should not be criticized in any sense," the premier
said.
Koizumi reiterated his feelings over the Yasukuni visits at a time when
Japanese friendship organizations are expecting Chinese President Hu Jintao not
to refer to the row over the Shinto shrine in his speech at their meeting
Friday.
The Japanese side has asked through Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi that
Hu do not directly refer to Yasukuni Shrine and Class-A war criminals, an issue
that has soured bilateral ties, sources said over the weekend.
Since taking office in 2001, Koizumi has repeatedly visited Yasukuni Shrine,
which honors 14 Class-A war criminals along with the war dead and is regarded by
China as symbolic of Japan's past militarism. He last visited the shrine last
October.
Seeking Japan-China summit within Koizumi's
term
Ruling Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hidenao
Nakagawa said Saturday that Japan and China should hold a bilateral summit
before Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's term runs out in September.
"We should overcome the various issues and mutually take the risk to
hold a summit meeting," Nakagawa said of the strained Japan-China relationship
during a presentation in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture.
He said it is also important for Koizumi's successor as LDP president and
Japan's prime minister to make "uninterrupted efforts" to work on improving the
two countries' ties, which have been strained largely over Koizumi's visits to
the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.
Noting that Japan and China have recently been holding a number of
minister-level talks, the chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council
suggested that Beijing has begun to place importance on its relations with
Tokyo.
"China understands that it needs to expand cooperation (with Japan) in areas
other than the Yasukuni issue and we see the start of change toward placing
importance on Japan," Nakagawa said.
China has refused to hold summit talks with Japan in protest of Koizumi's
visits to Yasukuni, which enshrines Class-A war criminals along with the war
dead. China and some other Asian countries see the Shinto shrine as symbolic of
past Japanese militarism.
On the domestic economy, Nakagawa predicted
that mid- to long-term economic policy will become a point of contention in
September's LDP presidential election and urged those who will vie to fill
Koizumi's post to come up with specific numerical targets.
The candidates "should make clear whether they aim for high economic growth
or whether they say that is impossible," he said.