China's Hu says hopes to visit Japan - Kyodo

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

The reported remark, which Kyodo said came in talks with Japanese ambassador to China Yuji Miyamoto, is the latest sign of a possible thaw in ties between the two Asian neighbours.

Relations between Beijing and Tokyo have been chilled in large part 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 and other Chinese leaders have said the shrine visits are a big obstacle to improved ties, although the two countries have also been feuding over other issues including territorial rights, energy resources and mutual suspicions about their military policies.

The pilgrimages to Yasukuni have become a focus of the race to succeed Koizumi, who is expected to step down when his term as Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president ends in September.

Frontrunner candidate Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe has defended Koizumi's visits but declined to say whether he would continue the practice if he takes the top job.

Number two rival Yasuo Fukuda, a veteran LDP lawmaker and former chief cabinet secretary, supports a proposal to build a new secular memorial where Japan can honour its war dead without angering China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past military aggression run deep.

In a sign of a potential thaw in relations, Japan earlier this month gave the go-ahead to grant 74 billion yen (649.8 million dollars) in low-interest loans to China after delaying the decision for more than two months due to the strained ties.

China's Xinhua news agency said Hu had accepted Miyamoto's credentials today, but the report made no mention of any remarks.

REUTERS SI HT1914