China again slams Japan for shrine visits

BEIJING, Mar 7 (Reuters) Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing sounded off today against Japanese leaders' repeated trips to a Tokyo shrine China sees as a symbol of Japan's militarism.

Japanese leaders should stop worshipping war criminals and hurting the feelings of the people of China and other countries that suffered in World War Two, Li said at a news conference on the sidelines of China's annual session of parliament.

Relations between Japan and China have sunk to their lowest point in decades on a range of issues, particularly Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, where some class-A war criminals are honoured alongside Japan's war dead.

China has also denounced a textbook it says whitewashes Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of China from 1931 to 1945.

''This is a very serious problem. It is not only the Chinese people that cannot accept Chinese leaders still worship class-A war criminals,'' Li said.

He said a German had once told him no German leader could ever say anything in support of Adolf Hitler or the Nazis and that Germans could not understand why Japan could keep doing such an amoral and ''stupid'' thing as visit the shrine.

''The Chinese people are the victims in this history. Now the important thing is for particular Japanese leaders to show enough courage and sincerity to correct their wrong actions.'' He also said he had been told the United States had never forgotten Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbour.

China and Japan closed two days of talks today on developing oil and gas resources in a disputed area of the East China Sea without agreement.

China and Japan basically agree to jointly develop the resources, but do not agree on where the border lies between their respective exclusive zones.

Tokyo fears China's exploitation of resources in the area could tap into resources in its own zone.

''The relevant development actions on the China side are in an area of the East China Sea where there is no dispute,'' Li said, adding both sides wanted to solve the issue through negotiations.

''Disagreements exist between the two sides regarding the East China Sea, that is a fact.'' REUTERS SY RN1533