BEIJING (Kyodo) An expected landslide victory by the Democratic Party of Japan, whose leader has pledged not to visit the contentious Yasukuni Shrine, may lead to warmer relations with Beijing, state media Friday quoted Chinese experts as saying.
A win by the main opposition party will lead to an emphasis on developing more positive Sino-Japanese ties and prevent the issue of visits to the shrine from "time and again" disrupting bilateral relations, Chinese academics told the state-run China Daily newspaper.
Yasukuni Shrine is regarded by many as a symbol of the country's militarist past.
"The promise he (DPJ leader Yukio Hatoyama) made will definitely help enhance mutual trust," said Gao Hong, a Japanese studies academic at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The DPJ will take a very "intelligent and forward-looking approach" to China-Japan ties, he added.
Zhou Yongsheng, a Japan expert at China Foreign Affairs University, pointed out that the DPJ had made it a policy to build a state-run memorial institution in place of the shrine.
"Compared with the LDP, the Democrats are more concerned about improved relations with China," Zhou told the newspaper.
But Zhou pointed out that issues still remain that could undermine bilateral ties, like the opposing sovereignty claims by both countries over the Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyu Islands.