Yasukuni still a thorn in relations

Members of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party yesterday vowed to continue visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, widely seen by the country's Asian neighbors as glorifying Japan's militaristic past.

Japanese visitors pay their respects at a monument to Sino-Japanese friendship in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang Province. The inscription on the monument reads: "No more war between China and Japan." Newsphoto

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members declared at their annual convention that: "We will carry on visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, to mourn those who sacrificed their lives for the foundation of the country, to make an anti-war pledge and to renew our commitment to peace."

The announcement, made on the party's website, came just two days after Premier Wen Jiabao met his Japanese counterpart Abe in the Philippines, a meeting at which Wen accepted an invitation to visit Japan.