Warning on Japan PM's war shrine visits
26 November 2004
Kakutaro Kitashiro, the head of a top Japanese executive group, said Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's continued visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine risked impacting business relations in China, Japan's second biggest export market. According to a Financial Times dispatch, the Japan Association of Corporate Executives claims a membership that includes many top Japanese CEOs. Kitashiro's caution came on the heels of Chinese President Hu Jintao's personal call on Koizumi to stop the visiting the shrine dedicated to Japan's war dead.