Abe says to seek Chinese help with Japan UN bid

TOKYO, Mar 27 (Reuters) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said today he would seek China's backing for Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council when he meets Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Tokyo next month.

The summit is the latest sign of a thaw in Sino-Japanese ties, which grew frosty under Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, partly because of Koizumi's pilgrimages to Yasukuni Shrine -- seen by Beijing as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Japanese World War Two leaders who were convicted as war criminals are honoured at the Tokyo shrine along with war dead.

Abe has tried to mend fences with China, travelling to Beijing for a summit soon after taking office in September.

''I would like to use the opportunity of Premier Wen's visit to Japan to build reciprocal strategic relations between Japan and China and move a step forward,'' Abe told a news conference.

''I would like to try to secure support from China for Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council.'' Wen is to visit Japan on April 11-13, the first visit by a Chinese leader in seven years.

Asked about Abe's comment, however, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference: ''The UN reforms ...

are important reforms which require a consensus as broad as possible and one based on patient and extensive consultations.

''It is a multilateral issue.'' Two years ago, Sino-Japanese ties took a nosedive when thousands of Chinese took to the streets across the country to protest what critics saw as Tokyo's failure to own up to its wartime past, and to oppose Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the United Nation's decision-making body.

Abe today stuck to his stance of declining to make clear whether he would pay his respects at Yasukuni while in office.

''I want to continue to respect those who fought for the country,'' Abe said. ''As long as it is the case that visits to Yasukuni become a diplomatic issue, I have no intention of saying whether I will visit or not.'' BROADER COOPERATION Abe triggered a furore overseas when he said earlier this month that there was no proof that Japan's government or army had forced women, mostly Asian, to serve as sex slaves for its soldiers in military brothels during World War Two.

Seoul expressed outrage, and US media have blasted Abe for the comments, but China -- while urging Tokyo to face up to its past -- has been relatively restrained in its remarks.

Today, Abe also said he would try to broaden the scope of bilateral cooperation to include such sectors as the environment and energy as well as diplomatic efforts to end North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Senior Japanese and Chinese government officials plan to discuss energy-sector cooperation, and about 100 private firms will join them when Premier Wen visits Tokyo next month.

But feuds over energy resources remain a source of friction.

Japan and China will hold talks over disputed gas fields in the East China Sea on Thursday in Tokyo, the first such talks since July last year.

The two Asian powers have talked about jointly developing the area, but they differ on the details of that work.

In February, an official with China's leading offshore operator said China was producing gas at the Chunxiao field.

The Chinese drilling equipment is in undisputed waters, but Japan has expressed concern that it and other Chinese explorations could drain resources from Japan's exclusive economic zone.

REUTERS DKA RK1540