Aso makes offerings to Yasukuni Shrine ahead of visit to China+

TOKYO, April 21 Kyodo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso said Tuesday he made offerings to Tokyo's
Yasukuni Shrine for its spring and autumn festivals, prompting relatively mild
expressions of concern from China and South Korea ahead of his planned visit to China next week.

China called on Japan to deal with the ''politically sensitive'' issue in a
manner that will help promote the progress made in Sino-Japanese relations,
while South Korea expressed ''deep regrets.''
On whether Aso actually will visit the shrine sometime this year, he told
reporters, ''I will decide appropriately,'' adding, ''It's natural to take into
account various situations'' in deciding to make visits or present offerings to
the shrine.
The shrine, dedicated to the war dead, is seen by Japan's Asian neighbors as a
symbol of Japan's militarist past because it also honors convicted war
criminals.
Aso brushed aside concern that the moves may have an adverse effect on planned
talks between Aso and Chinese leaders later this month, saying, ''I have
repeatedly said we will get on with China with future-oriented thinking and I
have said to directly face history.''
Aso is likely to have judged that making offerings to the shrine is within a
''tolerable range,'' taking into account that China gave a rather mild response
to Japan by prioritizing the improvement in the bilateral relationship in 2007
when then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presented an offering.
While Aso's moves are seen as trying to attract conservatives ahead of a House
of Representatives election, there is a prevailing view that Aso will forgo a
visit to the festival as well as future visits by taking into account
relationships with China and South Korea, whose cooperation is essential in
dealing with issues related to North Korea such as abductions of Japanese
nationals.
Aso presented ''masakaki'' -- potted branches of the ''sakaki'' evergreen
trees, considered sacred in the Shinto religion -- to the war-related shrine
under the name ''prime minister'' and paid the costs himself, sources close to
the prime minister said.
Aso also made offerings to the shrine for its spring festival held from Tuesday
to Thursday and for its autumn festival last October, Aso said.
''I basically believe that we, as citizens, should express appreciation and
respect for those who sacrificed their lives for the country,'' Aso said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura expressed a similar view, telling a news
conference that it would not have any adverse effect on planned bilateral
talks, while saying he believes that ministers who make visits and offerings to
Yasukuni Shrine do so in their private capacity.
Aso is slated to visit China on April 29 to 30 and meet with President Hu
Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
One masakaki costs 50,000 yen. The masakaki is placed near the stairs leading
up to the main shrine.
The last time an incumbent Japanese prime minister made an offering to the
shrine was in April 2007, when Abe offered a masakaki for the shrine's spring
festival, drawing negative reactions from China and South Korea.
Beijing and Seoul avoided direct protests at the time, however, amid a growing
mood of friendship with Japan after Abe succeeded Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi, who angered the two neighboring countries by repeatedly paying visits
to the shrine.
Another prime minister who made an offering to Yasukuni Shrine was Yasuhiro
Nakasone, who did so on Aug. 15, 1985, the anniversary of the end of World War
II.
Aso, who is known to have hawkish beliefs, visited the shrine when he served as
internal affairs and communications minister from 2003 to 2005. But he did not
make clear whether he would visit the shrine after taking the premiership last
September, simply saying he would ''monitor the situation.''
In 2006, Aso suggested that the shrine voluntarily give up its religious status
and effectively be put under state control.
==Kyodo