"One who pays visits with a sense of condolences for the war dead on the basis of regrets of the war should not be criticized in any sense," the premier said.

Koizumi reiterated his feelings over the Yasukuni visits at a time when Japanese friendship organizations are expecting Chinese President Hu Jintao not to refer to the row over the Shinto shrine in his speech at their meeting Friday.

The Japanese side has asked through Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi that Hu do not directly refer to Yasukuni Shrine and Class-A war criminals, an issue that has soured bilateral ties, sources said over the weekend.

Since taking office in 2001, Koizumi has repeatedly visited Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals along with the war dead and is regarded by China as symbolic of Japan's past militarism. He last visited the shrine last October.

Seeking Japan-China summit within Koizumi's term

Ruling Liberal Democratic Party policy chief Hidenao Nakagawa said Saturday that Japan and China should hold a bilateral summit before Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's term runs out in September.

"We should overcome the various issues and mutually take the risk to hold a summit meeting," Nakagawa said of the strained Japan-China relationship during a presentation in Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture.

He said it is also important for Koizumi's successor as LDP president and Japan's prime minister to make "uninterrupted efforts" to work on improving the two countries' ties, which have been strained largely over Koizumi's visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

Noting that Japan and China have recently been holding a number of minister-level talks, the chairman of the LDP's Policy Research Council suggested that Beijing has begun to place importance on its relations with Tokyo.

"China understands that it needs to expand cooperation (with Japan) in areas other than the Yasukuni issue and we see the start of change toward placing importance on Japan," Nakagawa said.

China has refused to hold summit talks with Japan in protest of Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, which enshrines Class-A war criminals along with the war dead. China and some other Asian countries see the Shinto shrine as symbolic of past Japanese militarism.

On the domestic economy, Nakagawa predicted that mid- to long-term economic policy will become a point of contention in September's LDP presidential election and urged those who will vie to fill Koizumi's post to come up with specific numerical targets.

The candidates "should make clear whether they aim for high economic growth or whether they say that is impossible," he said.