Japan PM Sent Offering to War Shrine in “Private Capacity” – Top Official

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, May 8 Kyodo – Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Tuesday Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to Tokyo’s war-related Yasukuni Shrine in late April in his “private capacity” and the Japanese government therefore had no comment.

Foreign Minister Taro Aso said separately he sees little possibility of Abe’s action harming Japanese relations with China and South Korea, which have improved since Abe took office last September.

Abe has adopted a strategy of ambiguity on the issue of Yasukuni, which honours war criminals along with the war dead, since he succeeded Junichiro Koizumi.

Koizumi’s repeated visits to the Shinto shrine angered China, South Korea and other countries affected by Japanese military aggression before and during World War II.

Asked about the development’s possible influence on Japan’s diplomacy with such countries, Shiozaki told a press conference that politicians in any country hold positions as private citizens.

“This is a matter that concerns the thoughts and faith of the prime minister as a private individual, so we would like to refrain from commenting from the government’s standpoint,” he said.

On media reports that Abe used the title “prime minister” in sending the offering, Shiozaki repeated the government’s official view that using one’s title does not negate one’s private capacity.

The Japanese government’s top spokesman, who said he learned about Abe’s action through media reports Tuesday morning, said he confirmed that no public funds were used in making the offering.

According to Yasukuni Shrine, Abe offered a potted “masakaki” plant worth 50,000 yen to the shrine on the occasion of its April 21- 23 spring festival and a wooden plate attached to the pot read, “Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.”

A source close to the matter said Abe paid the cost “out of his own pocket.”

(c) 2007 BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.