A top Chinese official abruptly called off a meeting with Japan's prime minister in an apparent snub over remarks by Japanese leaders on visiting a war shrine.
Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi cancelled a meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday, prompting a diplomatic row over a trip that had raised hopes fences could be mended after violent anti-Japanese protests in April.
Relations with China, where bitter memories of Japan's wartime aggression run deep, have been troubled by a series of feuds including Chinese anger at Mr Koizumi's annual visits to Yasukuni shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan's 2.5 million war dead.
Mr Koizumi, who last paid his respects at Yasukuni in January 2004, defended his visits last week, saying other countries should not interfere in how Japan mourned its war dead.
He added he would make an "appropriate decision" on when to go again. The prime minister has repeatedly said the visits are to honour war dead and pray for peace.
"We believe a good atmosphere is needed for Wu Yi to visit. . . . The Japanese government, especially some leaders, do not have a correct understanding and unceasingly spread incorrect remarks regarding history," Assistant Foreign Minister Shen Guofang said.
"We think it was very inappropriate to make those remarks while Vice Premier Wu Yi was visiting.
"This is the most sensitive issue in relations between the two countries," Mr Shen said. "If the Japanese government can adopt a very wise attitude and not visit, many problems in Sino-Japanese relations can be easily resolved."
Mr Shen cited "sudden internal" commitments at home as the main reason for calling off the meeting by Ms Wu, Beijing's top-ranking woman and the most senior Chinese official to visit Japan since 2003.