China's Hu says hopes to visit Japan-Kyodo

TOKYO, Jun 10 (Reuters) Chinese President Hu Jintao today said that, premised on an improvement in Sino-Japanese ties, he hoped to visit Japan at ''an appropriate time under the right conditions'', Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

Hu made the remark in talks with Japanese ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto, Kyodo said.

Ties between the two Asian neighbours have been chilled by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine, where some convicted World War Two war criminals are honoured along with Japanese war dead. Hu has previously said the shrine visits are a big obstacle to improved ties.

REUTERS SI HT1840