The flap over Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi's canceled meeting with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi [Images] in Tokyo on Monday sparked the most heated exchange in weeks between the two neighbors as they seek to ratchet down rancor that unleashed violent anti-Japanese protests in China last month.

China cancels meet with Japan PM

The Chinese government said it was upset over remarks Japanese leaders made during Wu's eight-day trip about visits to the Yakusuni Shrine, which honours war dead, including convicted war criminals.

China's state-run Xinhua news agency criticized Koizumi for what it said was his remark that he didn't see why he should stop visiting the memorial.

"We are very dissatisfied that Japanese leaders have made repeated remarks that are negative for the development of better relations during Madame Wu's visit to Japan, which have deprived such meetings of necessary conditions and atmosphere," Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

The China-Japan row

Japanese officials on Tuesday denounced the abrupt cancellation, with Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura complaining to reporters in Tokyo that "there was no word of apology."

"In terms of manners, it lacked common sense," Japan's Internal Affairs Minister Taro Aso said.

Wu's was the first high-level Chinese visit to Japan in more than a year, part of efforts to smooth over relations in the wake of last month's riots in China over Japan's World War II aggression, and Beijing's [Images] resistance to Tokyo's bid for a permanent UN Security Council seat.

Thousands of rioters took to the streets and damaged the Japanese Embassy in Beijing and the consulate in Shanghai as police stood by. They also smashed windows at restaurants serving Japanese food and overturned cars.

Underscoring those disputes is the two powers' long-standing rivalry for economic and political dominance in Asia. Beijing has long been angered by Koizumi's annual pilgrimages to a Tokyo war shrine, saying they ignore Chinese sensitivities and pay homage to Japan's militarist past.

A China India Japan axis  

On Sunday, Chinese President Hu Jintao met Japanese ruling party lawmakers in Beijing and reportedly expressed Beijing's displeasure at Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine [Images].

Koizumi, who has visited the shrine four times since 2001, refused last week to vow not to worship there again this year, repeating his statement that he would decide "appropriately" when to pay homage to Japan's war dead.

"I don't understand why Yasukuni visits are linked to militarism," Koizumi told a Parliament committee.

"China says (that Japan) should show through its actions that it is reflecting on the war, but in the 60 years since the war Japan has shown it has reflected on the war by ... staying true to its word never to wage war," he added.

(Associated Press Writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this report from Tokyo)

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