Shinzo Abe, deputy secretary general of the Liberal Democratic Party, urged China on Wednesday to resume top-level exchanges with Japan and set aside its dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
The two countries failed to arrange talks between Koizumi and Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of the three-day summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting that starts Thursday -- reportedly as a result of soured relations over Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, which enshrines several Class-A war criminals as well as Japan's war dead.
"I realize China is angry over the prime minister visiting Yasukuni," Abe told a lecture at a Tokyo hotel. "But it is ridiculous that they don't hold a summit because of it. Even (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il has had talks with Koizumi twice already."