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インタナショナル・ヘラルド・トリビューンのアジア・太平洋版（5月8日付・電子版）は、安倍首相が春季例大祭（4月21−23日）に靖国神社へ供物を奉納したことに対し、「*一見小さな仕草に見えるが、日本帝国軍隊が戦時に侵攻してきた記憶が生々しいので、近隣諸国との困難な関係では、より大きな象徴的意味をもたらす可能性がある」と指摘した。（*記事本文の太字部分は投稿者による）
記事本文は次のとおり ⇒
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/08/news/japan.php
Abe's gift to the Yasukuni war shrine in Japan is scrutinized
By Martin Fackler Published: May 8, 2007
TOKYO: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan made a ceremonial offering to a controversial Tokyo war shrine last month but did not go himself, a shrine official said Tuesday.
Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto memorial that commemorates Japan's wartime dead - including Class A war criminals from World War II - has been a focal point of Chinese and South Korean ire over what many in Asia see as Japan's lack of remorse for its wartime deeds.
Abe, who has worked to improve relations with China, has for months refused to say if he would visit the shrine. On Tuesday, Japanese news reports said Abe had sent a small plant as a type of compromise - a way of paying his respects and playing to his conservative base without making a visit, which the Chinese would surely take as an affront.
Abe sent $425 last month to buy a plant that was presented to the shrine, said Sayaka Ishida, a shrine spokeswoman. She said Abe bought a two-meter, or six-foot, sakaki, a type of evergreen used in Shinto rituals.
The top government spokesman, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki, later told reporters that the government could not comment because the offering was made by Abe as a private citizen and not in his capacity as Japanese leader.
However, Ishida said the plant carried a small wooden placard that read "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe."
The seemingly small gesture could take on larger symbolic significance in Japan's rocky relations with its neighbors, where memories of the imperial military's wartime march through Asia remain raw. Abe has recently made progress in improving ties with Beijing and Seoul, one of the few major successes so far of his eight-month-old administration.
It is unclear if the action will hurt those efforts or be seen as a compromise that satisfies Japan's neighbors because he did not actually visit the shrine.
At the regular Tuesday briefing of the Foreign Ministry in Beijing, a ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, deflected initial questions about Abe's gesture before offering a muted response.
At the briefing, Jiang never criticized Abe's offering, a possible signal that the gesture would not damage relations between the two Asian giants. Instead, she noted the improved relations between the two countries and urged Japan to adhere to a mutual consensus on removing political obstacles in the relationship.
"The Yasukuni Shrine issue is an important and sensitive political issue in China-Japan relations," Jiang said at the news briefing, which was later reported by Xinhua, the official Chinese press agency.
"We hope Japan strictly abides by the consensus."
[The South Korean Foreign Ministry reacted angrily to the move, calling it "very regrettable" and "running counter to establishing a correct perception of history, which serves as a basis for regional peace and stability," The Associated Press reported from Seoul.]
Junichiro Koizumi, the previous prime minister, outraged many in Asia by making annual visits to the shrine. They won him support from Japanese veterans' groups and other conservatives, who viewed them as displays of respect for Japan's war dead.
Abe, who has pushed a conservative political agenda, has yet to make it clear whether he will visit Yasukuni as prime minister, a move that would almost certainly anger China and South Korea.
So far, Abe has tried to walk a thin line between appealing to his domestic conservative base and improving relations with Asian neighbors, with whom Japan has robust economic ties.
One of his first moves after taking office in September was a trip to Beijing and Seoul that was widely credited with building good will.
[Reuters reported that Foreign Minister Taro Aso of Japan told reporters that he thought the gesture would have little impact on Chinese-Japanese ties, which have improved markedly since Abe took office.]
The plant was offered during an annual spring ceremony at the shrine that was held April 21-23, shortly after a visit to Japan by the prime minister of China, Wen Jiabao, that was hailed as a sign of the further mending of relations. The visit was the first in nearly seven years by a Chinese leader; China's top leaders had refused to come because of Koizumi's trips to the shrine.
Ishida, the shrine spokeswoman, said the last prime minister to make that type of offering was Yasuhiro Nakasone, in 1985. Nakasone also visited the shrine, angering Asian neighbors.
Ishida said the shrine allowed only high-ranking politicians and leaders of veterans' and bereaved families' groups to make such offerings.
Jim Yardley contributed reporting from Beijing.
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