Wen urges Japan's leader to avoid shrine

China's premier urged his Japanese counterpart not to visit a Tokyo war shrine at the center of tensions over Japan's past military aggression in Asia, a news report said Wednesday.

Speaking to Japanese media in Beijing ahead of a three-day visit to Japan next week, Wen Jiabao said that "individual Japanese leaders have visited (the shrine) numerous times and hurt the feelings of the Chinese people," Kyodo News agency reported.

"I hope this will never happen again," the agency quoted Wen as saying.

Yasukuni Shrine, which honors the country's 2.5 million war dead, is a diplomatic flash point between Japan and its neighbors China and South Korea, who see the shrine as a symbol of Japan's militaristic past.

Tokyo-Beijing ties soured under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, who repeatedly visited the shrine despite China's protests. Relations have improved since Abe took office last September, and he has not since visited the shrine.

Abe has refused to make clear whether he plans to visit the shrine and has said he will not confirm afterward whether he's gone. On Wednesday, he repeated that policy of ambiguity.

"My position on the Yasukuni issue is as stated before," Abe said.

Wen, who last month described his coming trip as "an ice-thawing journey," said that China places great importance on its ties with Japan, and that he hopes Abe will visit China by the year's end, Kyodo reported.

Abe visited Beijing shortly after he took office in September, and said last week he is considering returning to China.

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said the possibility of the visit would be discussed when Wen comes to Japan.

He is traveling there Wednesday, and is slated to hold a summit meeting with Abe and make a speech in Parliament. His visit marks the first such trip by a Chinese premier in eight years, according to China's Foreign Ministry.