Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said on Friday that Japan should build cooperative relations with China but he defended his visits to a shrine for war dead that is seen by Beijing as a symbol Tokyo's past militarism. Koizumi made the comments ahead of his meeting on Monday with Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi, who is in Japan on a week-long visit. "The leaders of the two countries share the view that Japan-China relations are important," Koizumi told parliament, according to Reuters. "Japan and China need to cooperate with each other not only in the context of bilateral ties but also in the international arena." Relations have been troubled by a series of disputes including anger in China at Koizumi's annual pilgrimage to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead. Anti-Japan protests erupted in across China last month, sparked by Tokyo's approval of a school textbook that some say whitewashes its wartime past, and by Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council. On Friday, Koizumi reiterated that his visits to the Shinto shrine in Tokyo were to pay respect to those who died and to vow that Japan would never again wage war. --More 1004 Local Time 0704 GMT
