Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Monday backed away from an earlier claim that China lured a consular official with a female spy, saying he offered the account only as a possible scenario.

Aso, whose caustic comments have angered Beijing in the past, said over the weekend that a consular official who committed suicide in Shanghai was blackmailed by Chinese intelligence agents who set him up with a woman to obtain classified information.

"I was just offering it as an example. It did not have any meaning beyond that," Aso told a committee meeting in the Lower House.

The aftermath from the May 2004 suicide has further enflamed tensions between the two nations. China has objected strenuously to suggestions by Japanese politicians that the official -- reportedly the head of encrypted communications at the consulate in Shanghai whose name has not been released -- was driven to suicide by Chinese spies.

On Saturday, Aso said in a speech in Tokyo that the consular official killed himself after having an affair with the unidentified woman. The Foreign Ministry said there was no sign the official had leaked information. Aso's description of the situation was detailed.

"They approached him, offering to arrange a sexy woman for him," Aso said Saturday. "Then he was blackmailed to give away secret codes for classified information. It is clear from a suicide note he left."

Aso said the diplomat chose to kill himself rather than betray his country. The government has since ordered changes to codes securing classified information and communications systems at Japanese embassies and consulates around the world.

But on Monday, Aso told lawmakers the account was hypothetical.

"As I said then, it is possible to think at the very least that Chinese authorities on the ground were talking about extortion, intimidation and similar matters, but anything beyond that I can't really say," he said under questioning.

"Given that this kind of concern comes up from time to time, I was trying to say that diplomatic staff should just be careful," he said.

Aso added that male diplomats approached by attractive women should "clear off a mirror" and ask if they were really good-looking enough to deserve such attention.

The incident prompted Japan last month to accuse China of violating the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations that guarantees the inviolability of diplomats.