Former Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Sunday that a Japan-China summit may be possible by the end of the year if Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe becomes the next prime minister.
"There are enough chances for (such a meeting) to be realized within this year," Machimura said on Fuji TV, apparently referring to this year's APEC summit Nov. 18 and 19.
Abe's refusal to say whether he will visit Yasukuni Shrine is a way of trying to defuse this issue, Machimura said.
"The Japan-China relationship is not so simple that it doesn't go anywhere unless we decide what is right on the Yasukuni issue," he said.
Abe, expected to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, is seen as a hardliner on diplomatic issues, but he took a step toward mending ties with China and South Korea on Friday, calling for "reinforcing Japan's relations" with those and other neighbor countries.