Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reiterated Thursday that he will decide whether to again visit Tokyo's war-related Yasukuni Shrine "appropriately" in view of strong protests from China.

"There are many areas on which Japan and China can cooperate not only bilaterally but also in the international arena. We should recognize the importance of Japan-China friendship in a large sense," Koizumi said during a House of Councillors Audit Committee session.

"I will continue to decide appropriately on the issue of Yasukuni in the future from such a viewpoint," Koizumi said, without elaborating.

During bilateral summit talks last month, both Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao urged Koizumi to stop visiting the Shinto shrine in unusually strong words.

More than 1,000 convicted war criminals, including executed wartime Prime Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo and 13 other Class-A war criminals, are enshrined at Yasukuni along with Japan's war dead. Other Asian countries, where memories of Japanese military aggression before and during World War II remain strong, see the shrine as symbolic of Japanese militarism.

Koizumi has visited the shrine every year since taking office in April 2001. The visits have soured bilateral relations between China and Japan, and Chinese leaders have met with Koizumi only on the sidelines of multilateral conferences.

(China Daily via agencies December 3, 2004)