Some 200 Japan lawmakers visit Yasukuni war shrine
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-10-18 09:40

Some 200 Japanese lawmakers paid their respects at a Tokyo shrine for war dead on Tuesday, one day after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi outraged China and South Korea by visiting the shrine, a spokesman for the shrine said.

The parliamentarians are members of a group that usually visits the Yasukuni shrine -- seen by critics at home and abroad as a symbol of Japan's past militarism -- during spring and autumn festivals such as the one taking place this week.

Japan's relations with its neighbours could go into a deep freeze following Koizumi's latest visit, his fifth since taking office in 2001, to Yasukuni, where war criminals convicted by an Allied tribunal are honoured along with 2.5 million war dead.

Japan's Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, lead by party's Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe, third from right, visit Yasukuni Shrine Tuesday morning, Oct. 18, 2005 in Tokyo. [AP]

A meeting tentatively planned for later this week between Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing to discuss a possible Sino-Japanese leaders' summit is now in doubt, while a South Korean presidential aide said on Monday that President Roh Moo-hyun was unlikely to meet Koizumi for their semi-annual summit meeting this year.

Machimura told reporters, however, that the diplomatic schedule should not be affected.

"We will seek (the two countries') understanding through various channels," Machimura said. "I think that various scheduled meetings should take place as planned."

Japan's Ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers, lead by party's Secretary-General Tsutomu Takebe, second from right, visit Yasukuni Shrine Tuesday morning, Oct. 18, 2005 in Tokyo.[AP]

Japanese business executives are worried the diplomatic strains will hurt economic relations especially between China and Japan, which have annual trade worth about $212 billion.

"Japan's relations with China and South Korea are the most important bilateral ties after those with the United States, and a deterioration is a minus for Japan's national interests," said an editorial in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun financial daily.

"Even if there is conflict politically between the countries, we must avoid this having an impact on economic ties and private sector exchanges," the newspaper said.