"The Koizumi government will come to an end. For the Chinese side also, there is nothing good about prolonging this problem," a Foreign Ministry official was quoted as saying by the Yomiuri.
Because Koizumi's successor has not yet been decided and his priorities in terms of foreign policy have yet to be set, it is too early to arrange summit meetings, Shikata said. But multilateral meetings are good forums for such summits, he added.
"As a government policy, it is certain that the prime minister will change and we hope there will be close dialogue at the summit level," Shikata said.
South Korea said yesterday there won't be a summit with Japan while leaders continue to visit the shrine.
"Whoever becomes the next Japanese prime minister, we maintain our position that we expect Japan to show with actions its efforts to earn the trust of the international community," Seo Joo-seok, the chief presidential security aide, said in interview with KBS radio.
"This is also the case with the issue of visiting Yasukuni Shrine," he said.
Seo said there have not yet been any detailed discussions about holding a summit on the sidelines of the APEC or ASEAN meetings.
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