Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced displeasure Wednesday over remarks made by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi about the controversial Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

During a Lower House Budget Committee meeting on Tuesday, Koizumi said that while the shrine honors Class-A war criminals, this would not stop him from paying visits there.

Wang arrived in Tokyo the same day.

"The current China-Japan relationship is based on criticism and reflection on those who were responsible for waging war in the past," a Japanese official quoted Wang as saying during a meeting with Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi.

Koizumi has visited the shrine every year since taking office in 2001, saying he can renew his resolve to create a world free of war by doing so.

He last visited the shrine on Jan. 1.

Regarded by other Asian countries as a symbol of Japan's militarist past, the Shinto shrine is dedicated to 2.5 million Japanese who have died in wars since 1853, as well as a number of convicted Class-A war criminals, such as wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo.

Wang said the issue demonstrates Tokyo's attitude regarding its responsibility for past aggression, the official said.

Kawaguchi said Koizumi visits the shrine to show sympathy for the people who lost their lives in World War II.

She said Japan remains committed to the stance expressed in a statement issued in 1995 by then Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama.

On Aug. 15, 1995, Murayama officially apologized for Japan's past acts of aggression and colonialism against its Asian neighbors, 50 years after Japan surrendered in World War II.

Wang also stated that Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing wants to invite Kawaguchi to visit China in April, the officials said. Kawaguchi last visited Beijing in April, following the establishment of China's new leadership under President Hu Jintao.

Kawaguchi called for China's continued support for Japan's efforts to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted to North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s.

She voiced appreciation for China's efforts to realize a second round of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear ambitions, telling Wang that Japan and China have a common goal of achieving a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, the officials said.

Wang, who will chair the next round, told Kawaguchi that China will do its utmost at the talks. He voiced hope that Japan will play an important role in the talks, they said.

China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Russia and the United States will convene the second round of talks beginning Feb. 25 in Beijing.

Information from Kyodo added