Wednesday’s visit was the first by a cabinet minister since the Democrats swept to power in 2009, promising to forge warmer ties with the rest of Asia.
The China Daily, Beijing’s main English-language newspaper, warned that the shrine visits risked “putting hard-won diplomatic relations with China in jeopardy.”
“Some Japanese politicians are trying to distract the Japanese public from domestic problems by creating conflicts with China, but this is just doubling down on a bad bet,” a commentary said.



