PM ASO'S YASUKUNI OFFERING DRAWS STATEMENTS OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TOKYO 000958

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/J

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/22/2019
TAGS: PREL CH JA
SUBJECT: PM ASO'S YASUKUNI OFFERING DRAWS STATEMENTS OF
CONCERN FROM PRC AND ROK

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Classified By: CDA James P. Zumwalt for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's offering
to Yasukuni Shrine on April 21 has drawn reactions that are
more muted than expected from China and South Korea ahead of
the PM's trip to China April 29. Some observers speculate
that Aso's decision to send an offering but not visit the
controversial Shrine was meant to attract conservative votes
prior to the upcoming election, while not alienating Asian
neighbors. He appears to have calculated the PRC reaction
correctly as his trip to China remains on schedule. END
SUMMARY


2. (C) PM Aso unexpectedly made an offering on April 21 to
Yasukuni Shrine, roughly one week before his two-day trip to
China. Aso presented a Japanese "sakaki" evergreen cutting
at the start of the Spring Festival "to pay respects to those
who lost their lives fighting for the country," the Prime
Minister said. PM Aso sent the offering under the title
"Prime Minister" and paid for the gift himself, but he did
not visit the shrine -- the place of enshrinement for Japan's
war dead, including several Class-A war criminals. Aso made
a similar gesture during the Shrine's Autumn Festival last
October. Speaking to reporters in the evening after sending
the offering, Aso said that "people should express gratitude
and respect toward the people who sacrificed their sacred
lives for the country."


3. (C) Eighty-seven members of a nonpartisan Diet league that
supports Yasukuni visits paid respects at the Shrine the day
after the Prime Minister's offering. The delegation
comprised several sub-Cabinet officials, including three
state secretaries and seven parliamentary vice ministers,
ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) members such as LDP
Election Strategy Council Chairman Makoto Koga and LDP
faction leader Nobutaka Machimura, and lawmakers from the
main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the
People's New Party.


4. (C) Koga, whose father was killed in World War II, heads
the association of family members of the war dead. An
advocate of removing the Class-A war criminals from Yasukuni,
he has been unsuccessful in persuading the families --
particularly the daughter of former Prime Minister Hideki
Tojo -- to agree.


5. (C) EMBASSY contacts broadly agree that, although
longstanding issues and irritants exist between the two
sides, bilateral ties have improved markedly since the tenure
of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who annually acted on
his campaign promise to visit Yasukuni Shrine. They add that
PM Aso has helped his own cause by keeping a heretofore
ambiguous position on prime ministerial visits to the Shrine.
Aso told reporters on April 21 that it is "natural to take
into account various situations" when deciding to visit, and
an aide reportedly added the next day that PM Aso did not
intend to pay homage at Yasukuni during his term as premier.
Aso has visited Yasukuni in the past, from his childhood to
his stint in the Cabinet as Internal Affairs and
Communications Minister during 2003-05, but regional
neighbors appear willing to tolerate Aso's past actions. His
reported offering during last year's Shrine Autumn Festival
received little fanfare.


6. (C) PM Aso appears to have judged regional reactions
correctly so far. Beijing and Seoul have provided only
statements of regret and disappointment, but no action. A
Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesperson publicly expressed
China's "grave concern and dissatisfaction" and warned that
"any erroneous moves by Japan will produce a negative impact

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on bilateral relations." The spokesperson had earlier
relayed China's hope that Japan "will earnestly follow
efforts to overcome political barriers between the two
countries." South Korea's government spokesperson called
Aso's gesture "extremely regrettable." As of April 24, the
Prime Minister was still scheduled to go to China on April 29
for meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen
Jiabao.


7. (C) PM Aso's gesture may be a way to attract conservative
voters in the run-up to what will be an intensely contested
Lower House election, according to media commentators. It is
unlikely the Prime Minister will gain any political capital
from the offering however, given the small number of voters
for whom Yasukuni is an important issue and the fact that PM
Aso's conservative views are already well known.
ZUMWALT