Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put already frosty ties with China and South Korea under further strain yesterday by sending a ritual offering to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine.

Though Abe refrained from visiting the shrine personally, his gesture looked set to complicate a visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, who has been trying to soothe tension between Seoul and Tokyo, two of Washington’s key allies in East Asia.

Reflecting tense Sino-Japanese ties, a Shanghai court on Saturday ordered the seizure of a Japanese ship owned by Mitsui OSK Lines as compensation for the loss of two ships the shipping firm leased from a Chinese company before the two countries went to war in 1937, reported Bloomberg.

Last December, despite repeated warnings by Washington that a visit to Yasukuni could create diplomatic problems for the region, Abe went ahead and prayed there, infuriating both Beijing and Seoul, which see it as a monument to Japan’s past militarism.

On Monday, Abe paid for a “Masakaki” tree offering to the shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals among some two million of Japan’s war dead. He did the same at the shrine’s spring and autumn festivals last year.

But government spokesman Yoshihide Suga insisted that the offering would not affect Abe’s summit meeting with Obama on Thursday.

Health and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura yesterday also sent an offering to the shrine. Two ministers visited the shrine ahead of the spring festival from April 21 to April 23, slightly overlapping with Obama’s visit.

Keiji Furuya, a minister who oversees the issue of Pyongyang’s past abduction of Japanese nationals, visited on Sunday, while Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Yoshitaka Shindo did so on April 12.

Suga would not confirm if Abe planned to go during the festival, saying: “Abe would make an appropriate decision.”

On Sunday, Abe had reiterated on television his stand that it was “natural for a state leader to pray for the souls of those who fought for the country.” He did not say if he would visit Yasukuni.

Abe is believed to be trying to tell the United States that he will not compromise on Yasukuni.

“Abe wants to rehabilitate the honor of his late grandfather and premier Nobusuke Kishi, who was seen as a war criminal and is not well-regarded by the Japanese people,” said China scholar Koichi Sato, who teaches at J.F. Oberlin University in Tokyo.

“But for now, Abe will not let Yasukuni become another source of problems, what with the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks and the domestic debate over collective self-defense already giving him enough headaches,” he said.

A commentary by China’s official Xinhua news agency on Monday called Abe’s ritual offering ahead of Obama’s visit “nothing short of a slap in the face” of the leader of Japan’s closest ally.

“During his upcoming visit, Obama should send a clear message to Tokyo that the United States is no spoiler of repeated troublemakers and that Japan must learn and behave,” the commentary added.

Abe has resisted efforts to find a solution to Yasukuni by building an alternative monument. Last week, he told a symposium it would be wrong to build a new facility to replace Yasukuni.

By Kwan Weng Kin

Kwan Weng Kin is Japan correspondent for The Straits Times. ― Ed.

(The Straits Times)

(Asia News Network)