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TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently made an offering to a war shrine that many in Asia consider a symbol of Japan's past militarism but stopped short of visiting the controversial site, Kyodo news service reported on Tuesday.
Abe's decision to honour Japan's war dead without going to the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo appeared aimed at keeping a rapprochement with China on track while trying not to anger conservative supporters who favour prime ministerial pilgrimages.
Annual visits to the shrine by Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, drew Japan's relations with China to their lowest ebb in decades and angered South Korea. Memories of Japan's military aggression before and during World War Two run deep in the two countries.
During the Shinto shrine's spring festival last month, Abe offered a potted masakaki plant using the name prime minister but stopped short of going to the shrine, Kyodo reported, quoting a source familiar with the matter.
"Abe's action is apparently aimed at paying heed not only to Japan's neighbouring countries but to the shrine as well amid a growing mood of friendship with China following Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan in April," Kyodo said.
The shrine honours millions of war dead including some Japanese World War Two leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal. It is seen in parts of Asia as a symbol of Japan's military aggression before and during the war.
Abe has sought to improve ties with China, which he visited last October shortly after taking office. Wen followed up with a visit to Japan last month, marking the first visit by a Chinese premier to Japan since 2000.
Before becoming cabinet minister, Abe made visits to Yasukuni publicly.
But he has carefully declined to say whether he would go to Yasukuni as prime minister -- a stance aimed at balancing his desire to improve ties with China while not alienating conservative supporters who revere Japan's past.
Abe faces elections in Japan's upper house in July that will test his governing coalition.
- REUTERS
