Aso sends offering to Yasukuni shrine

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-22 09:17

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has sent an offering to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, a spokeswoman for the shrine, seen by many as a symbol of Japan's past militarism, said on Tuesday.

News of the offering - a $500 potted tree with a sign showing Aso's name and title as the premier - comes a week ahead of the prime minister's two-day trip to Beijing where he is expected to meet Chinese leaders.

"I thanked and paid homage to those who sacrificed their life for the country," Aso was quoted by Kyodo news agency as telling reporters when asked about the offering.

Japan's relations with China chilled in former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2001-06 time in office, in part because of his repeated visits to the shrine where Japanese wartime leaders are honored along with the nation's war dead.

Ties improved after Koizumi left office, with the two subsequent prime ministers staying away from Yasukuni.

Japan's top government spokesman, Takeo Kawamura, told a news conference the premier's offering, which Kawamura believed was paid by Aso's own money, was unlikely to jeopardize next week's Japan-China summit.

But Aso's move has already prompted some criticism.

"From the perspective of setting up a correct historical view, it is very regrettable that Prime Minister Taro Aso made an offering at the Yasukuni Shrine, which beautifies (Japan's) past invasions and houses war criminals," Yonhap news agency reported ROK foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young as saying in a statement.

Aso made his offering during Yasukuni's three-day spring festival, but the shrine spokeswoman could not say whether the premier himself had visited the shrine.

Japanese broadcaster TBS, citing an unnamed government official, said Aso's personal office sent the plant and the premier had no plan to visit the shrine.

Move 'aimed at ratings'

"Aso did so out of complex reasons... to improve his low public support rate in Japan and to balance other political interests during a time of financial woes", said Professor Zhu Feng, a scholar on East Asia studies at Peking University, drawing parallels with former prime minister Shinzo Abe's similar deeds a few years ago.

"Aso's doing it again shows that divisions still exist between China and Japan in the views of the history", Zhang Tuosheng, an expert in Japanese studies with the China Foundation for International and Strategic Studies echoed.

Reuters - China Daily