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| Yasukuni Shrine (File Photo) |
By Clint Richards
Even if Abe doesn’t visit, Xi will have to decide how much a summit will cost him at home.
The Jiji Press reported on Monday that “informed sources” told the publication that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will not be revisiting the controversial Yasukuni Shrine this Friday, to commemorate the 69th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in the Second World War.Abe’s visit to the shrine last December, where 14 Class-A Japanese war criminals are interred, produced an immediate and visceral reaction across the region (with even the U.S. expressing “disappointment”), particularly among those nations Japan had formerly subjugated. Even if Abe does not visit, it will be important to monitor which (if any) of his Cabinet members or senior LDP officials visit the shrine.
The sources also indicated that Abe will refrain from visiting the shrine in the hope that a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) summit in November will happen. Indeed, China has made it known through several channels that Abe would have to abstain from going to the shrine again, while recognizing that there is a territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
Read the full story at The Diplomat