Japan PM sends offering to Yasukuni shrine for war dead
19 Oct 2014 4:51 AM IST
A group of other Japanese lawmakers paid their respects at the shrine - seen by critics at home and abroad as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism - on Friday, the start of the country’s autumn festival, a Reuters witness said.
There was no sign of cabinet ministers at the shrine, although NHK public television said Health Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki also sent an offering. A ruling party lawmaker tweeted that three ministers planned to visit on Saturday. Expectations have been growing in Japan that Abe, who outraged Beijing and Seoul by visiting Yasukuni in person in December 2013, will be able to meet Xi for ice-breaking talks next month at an Asia-Pacific leaders summit in Beijing.
Signs of a thaw have been growing, a reflection of the recognition on both sides that the chill was bad for business as well as raising the risk of an unintended clash that could escalate militarily. Prospects for a leaders’ chat, however, are clouded by China’s demand for a signal that Abe will not make another pilgrimage to the shrine, where Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honoured along with millions of war dead. On Friday, Abe sent an offering of a small masakaki tree.
A public promise not to pay his respects at Yasukuni again would be impossible for Abe, whose conservative agenda includes recasting Japan’s wartime history in a less apologetic tone.
There was no sign of cabinet ministers at the shrine, although NHK public television said Health Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki also sent an offering. A ruling party lawmaker tweeted that three ministers planned to visit on Saturday. Expectations have been growing in Japan that Abe, who outraged Beijing and Seoul by visiting Yasukuni in person in December 2013, will be able to meet Xi for ice-breaking talks next month at an Asia-Pacific leaders summit in Beijing.
Signs of a thaw have been growing, a reflection of the recognition on both sides that the chill was bad for business as well as raising the risk of an unintended clash that could escalate militarily. Prospects for a leaders’ chat, however, are clouded by China’s demand for a signal that Abe will not make another pilgrimage to the shrine, where Japanese wartime leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are honoured along with millions of war dead. On Friday, Abe sent an offering of a small masakaki tree.
A public promise not to pay his respects at Yasukuni again would be impossible for Abe, whose conservative agenda includes recasting Japan’s wartime history in a less apologetic tone.
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