By Bill Smith Oct 7, 2006, 13:43 GMT
Beijing - China hopes new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make a public promise not to visit a controversial war shrine, but Abe is instead likely to repeat his position that he will decide on future visits with his 'heart,' a senior Japanese official said in Beijing on Saturday.
The leaders of the two countries have not met since former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2001 visit to the Yasukuni was shrine, which honours Japan's war dead, including 14 class-A war criminals convicted after World War II.
Earlier this year, Chinese President Hu Jintao highlighted Koizumi's visits to the shrine as the 'major obstacle in the China-Japan relationship.'
Abe has previously visited the shrine but has declined to say if he plans to do so as prime minister.
'Prime Minister Abe will maintain his basic stance of not declaring whether he will visit Yasukuni or will not visit Yasukuni,' the Japanese official said ahead of Abe's talks with Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday.
'It's because... Mr Abe thinks this issue is matter of his heart,' said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
'He doesn't want to make it a political or diplomatic issue.'
Abe's trip to Beijing is the first part of what he calls 'proactive diplomacy' and reflects his pragmatic approach, the official said.
It falls as economic relations are in an 'unprecedented excellent situation,' he said.
The value of Japan's exports to China soared to 80 billion dollars in 2005, with imports from China reaching 108 billion dollars, according to Japanese statistics.
In his recent policy address to the Japanese parliament, Abe said Japan's close economic ties to China and South Korea made the improvement of diplomatic relations 'extremely important for the Asian region and the entire international community.'
His talks in Beijing are likely to be dominated by how to respond to North Korea's statement last week that its plans to conduct a nuclear test.
Apart from the shrine visits, the two sides are also expected to discuss disputes over offshore oil and gas exploration and control of islands in the East China Sea.
China's Foreign Ministry said Abe was invited to visit after the two sides agreed to overcome a 'political obstacle,' in an apparent reference to Koizumi's visits to the shrine.
'China and Japan reached a consensus on overcoming the political obstacle to the bilateral relationship and promoting the sound development of bilateral friendly and cooperative relationship,' Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement.
China saw Koizumi as prioritizing ties with the United States at the expense of East Asian nations and ignoring the sensitivities of China and South Korea by visiting the shrine, the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary on Abe.
'The diplomatic impasse between China and Japan resulted from the Japanese leader's repeated shrine visits,' the agency said.
'It is critical for the Japanese leaders to make a resolute decision as early as possible, to clear up the political barrier, and put the bilateral ties back onto the right track.'
Feng Zhaokui, a Japan specialist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Abe 'must show where he stands definitely and unambiguously' on the shrine issue.
'Abe's position on this matter will be a touchstone to test his sincerity in bettering ties with China and the Republic of Korea (South Korea),' Feng said recently in the official China Daily newspaper.
State media have carried the Foreign Ministry statement, carrying with it the suggestion that Abe may have made some kind of concessionary statement on his shrine visits.
But people expecting a public commitment from him are likely to be disappointed.
Abe reiterated on Friday that he would support the 1995 apology made by former prime minister Tomiichi Murayama for Japan's colonial rule and atrocities in neighbouring countries.
He said he had given no assurances over possible visits to the shrine in order to get Chinese leaders to agree to meet him.
'There is no precondition or agreement on the subject (of Yasukuni),' the Japanese official said of the arrangements for Sunday's meetings.
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