Two prominent U.S. experts on Japan refused Tuesday to predict how the U.S. government would react if Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Yasukuni Shrine next month, an act that would undoubtedly add further strain to already frayed relations with China and South Korea.
Speaking at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Michael Green, senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Kurt Campbell, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, refrained from making any guesses on what kind of response could be expected from the Obama administration.
Instead, Green, stressing that it is purely his personal view, said only that the administration shouldn't criticize Abe even if he visits the Tokyo shrine, which honors the nation's war dead — including convicted Class-A criminals from World War II.