No vist to shrine causes media ponder

Did Chinese pressure force Japan's PM
to postpone decision to visit war shrine?

Koizumi says he will make the 'appropriate' decision
of whether to visit a shrine that houses war criminals.

Matthew Clark| csmonitor.com

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Saturday that he would refrain from visiting the Yasukuni Shrine during the New Year's holiday. His visit to the controverial Tokyo shrine that houses 2.5 million Japanese war dead - including 14 Class-A World War II criminals - on New Year's Day last year caused speculation that he might do so again this year, reports The Associated Press. But, The Daily Yomiuri of Japan cites an unnamed source as saying that Koizumi "is not likely to stop visiting the shrine and will instead find an appropriate time to visit this year." Koizumi said Tuesday he "will make an appropriate decision" about visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, reports the Chinese news service Xinhua. According to Xinhua, the "war criminal-related" shrine is "the biggest hindrance to the realization of a summit meeting with Chinese leaders." Koizumi has visited the shrine four times since he took office in 2001, and the yearly visits have strained relations with China. Chinese President Hu Jintao in November personally urged Koizumi to not visit the shrine and "to be particularly sensitive to the issue in 2005 because the year marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II," reports AP. Asia Times Online describes China's view of the shrine this way: Beijing sees the Yasukuni Shrine as the spiritual symbol of Japan's brutal wartime regime, viewing prime-ministerial patronage as unacceptable in the same way Israel would not tolerate German leaders visiting a Nazi memorial. The Chinese leadership has singled out Koizumi's shrine excursions as the main factor holding back bilateral political ties. Koizumi - who says his yearly visits are an act of remembrance so as not to repeat the mistakes of war - disagrees. "I don't think the Yasukuni visit alone is the major problem between Japan and China," he said Tuesday. The Christian Science Monitor reports that Japan's Shinto religion doesn't distinguish between good and evil when it comes to questions of the eternal. As a pantheist faith, Shinto holds that every object contains a divine spirit, and all aspects of existence have the capacity to be gods. ... Because everything is considered divine, those enshrined at Yasukuni are also said to be worthy of religious adulation. The Mainichi Daily News reports that an adviser to Koizumi, Taku Yamasaki, "asked the Yasukuni Shrine to separately enshrine 14 Class-A war criminals, such as former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, but shrine officials refused the idea." According to a recent poll, the Japanese public is split on its support for Koizumi's visits to the shrine. According to the poll by Nihon Kezai Simbun, 48% support and 38% oppose his visits. In a December 6 article headlined "The potential deterioration of Sino-Japanese relations," Power and Interest News Report posits that China's motives for such fierce opposition to Koizumi's visits to the shrine are based on strategy as well as ethics. China hopes to undermine Koizumi's political support by dividing the country over an issue tied to the nationalistic policies that allowed him to assume power within his Liberal Democratic Party (L.D.P.). The more liberal, economic reformers of the L.D.P. have urged Koizumi to stop visiting the shrine in order to foster a better economic relationship with China. Conservatives within the L.D.P. have noted that if Koizumi stops the visits now, at the height of Beijing's complaints before the 60th anniversary of Japan's defeat in WWII, it will be seen as caving in to Chinese pressure and will weaken Tokyo's negotiating position in future talks. The report goes on to make some predictions as to the foreign policies of both China and Japan in the near future. Tokyo will move to assert itself more boldly on the world stage in the near term by pushing for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, reevaluating Article Nine of its constitution, which prohibits Japan from having a standing army, and by negotiating trade agreements with A.S.E.A.N. countries that will make it more competitive with China in the region. If China follows its "peaceful rise" policy, Beijing will not react too harshly to these actions -- while at the same time ensuring that nothing Tokyo does will prevent China from assuming the role of regional hegemon. Mirroring the reports of strained government ties between the two countries, recent public opinion polls include "very bad news for Japanese and Chinese politicians, businessmen, and the public," reports Asia Times Online. According to the just-released annual Japanese government opinion survey, the number of Japanese people who feel affinity with China has fallen sharply, hitting an all-time low of 37.6%, This represents a dramatic 10.3-percentage-point drop from last year. ... For more than three years Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has pursued a controversial China policy that has put Japanese neo-nationalism ahead of good political relations with Beijing, seriously straining bilateral ties. Also... • US Reportedly shifts on involving Europeans (The Los Angeles Times) • Attacks continue in Iraq as elections approach (The New York Times) • Algeria reveals rebel crackdown (BBC) • Feedback appreciated. E-mail Matthew Clark.