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Shinzo Abe says he would continue Yasukuni visits

The front-runner to succeed Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi suggested yesterday that he would visit a Tokyo war shrine if elected, despite the damage such visits have caused to Japan's relations with China and South Korea.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, who is favored to replace Koizumi when his term ends in September, has been a strong backer of visits to Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's war dead, including executed war criminals, are honored.

"I would like to continue putting my hands together for those who died for our nation and pray for their souls," Abe said without elaborating when asked if he would visit as prime minister.

Koizumi has prayed at the shrine in downtown Tokyo five times since taking office in 2001, triggering increasingly strident protests from China and South Korea, who see the visits as a sign Tokyo is not repentant over its wartime invasions in Asia.

Abe made the comment as he rejected an offer by Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) last week to end an apparent moratorium on meetings with Koizumi if the Japanese leader would stop further visits to Yasukuni.

"We cannot accept the Chinese position that the entire responsibility of the current difficulties that Japan and China face today falls on the Japanese leaders," Abe told reporters.

Speculation has been building about whether Abe, considered a leading voice of a more assertive, nationalistic Japan, would keep up the Yasukuni visits or avoid them for the sake of repairing relations with Beijing and Seoul.

The comments came as more evidence emerged that Abe led the pack in replacing Koizumi, who has repeatedly vowed to step down in September despite his continued popularity.

A poll by Mainichi newspaper published yesterday said 36 percent of respondents favored Abe as next prime minister, while 18 percent favored former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda. The poll interviewed 1,092 eligible voters nationwide by phone on Saturday and Sunday.

Meanwhile, Koizumi said yesterday that Hu was unreasonable for refusing to talk to him unless he stopped visiting a controversial war shrine.

"No other country would say, `I will meet you if you accept this condition' or `I will not meet as you don't satisfy this condition,'" Koizumi said in the latest exchange over the Yasukuni shrine.

"I think it is unreasonable to say there will be no summit because of a difference in opinion over a single issue," Koizumi said.

Speaking in parliament, Koizumi dismissed opposition charges that he had failed in Asian diplomacy.

"I think it would be better to develop mutual friendship through dialogue when we face a problem or confrontation," he said.
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