Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, hoping to appease conservative supporters without closing the door on a hoped-for summit meeting with China’s leader, refrained from visiting a controversial war shrine in Tokyo on Friday, the 69th anniversary of the end of World War II, sending a cash offering instead.
Some 80 Japanese politicians, including three members of Mr. Abe’s cabinet, did visit Yasukuni, the large shrine in central Tokyo that honors the nation’s war dead, including convicted war criminals. However, in an apparent attempt to avoid angering China as well as South Korea, Mr. Abe did not join them, despite calls from right-wing supporters for him to pay respects by doing so.
Instead, Mr. Abe sent an aide with the donation, which Mr. Abe signed as president of the Liberal Democratic Party and not in his public capacity as prime minister. The offering continues a pattern of sending gifts to the shrine instead of paying actual visits that Mr. Abe has largely followed since taking office in December 2012 amid concerns that his nationalistic views on history might isolate Japan in the region.
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Martin Fackler, New York Times via CHINA US Focus http://ift.tt/1m2muco
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