Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faced fresh pressure Sunday over the issue of his visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo as former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said he should not visit the shrine because such a move would hurt Japan-China relations.

Miyazawa made the comments on a TV Asahi talk show, saying, "It is better to remove any factors that could disturb relations between Japanese and Chinese government leaders."

Miyazawa also indicated that Koizumi's visits to the Shinto shrine, where convicted Japanese WWII war criminals are honored along with the Japanese war dead, is one of the reasons that mutual visits with Chinese leaders have come to a halt.

The issue has prevented Koizumi and Chinese leaders from making reciprocal visits since Koizumi visited Beijing in October 2001. Chinese leaders have met Koizumi only on the sidelines of multilateral conferences.

Asian countries, particularly China and South Korea, have bitter memories of Japan's military aggression before and during World War II and have strongly protested Koizumi's visits to the shrine, which they regard as symbolic of Japan's militaristic past.

(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, June 20, 2005)