April 23, 2009, 2:46 pmBEIJING (Reuters) - China voiced anger on Thursday with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso for sending an offering to the Yasukuni shrine for war dead, warning of repercussions that could overshadow his scheduled visit to Beijing .
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said her government expressed "strong concern and dissatisfaction" over Aso's offering of a ritual potted tree to the Tokyo shrine, which critics say represents Japanese aggression before and during World War Two.
The statement made no mention of cancelling Aso's planned two-day visit, which comes while Asia's two biggest economies grapple with trying to rein in neighbor North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
"China has already used diplomatic channels to express its strong concern and dissatisfaction, and stressed the high sensitivity of historical issues," Jiang said in a statement read out on Chinese state television news.
"Any erroneous actions by Japan will have gravely negative consequences for bilateral relations, and we demand that the Japanese side exercise caution in its words and actions and appropriately deal with this."
Earlier in the week, Jiang had given a much milder reaction to the offering this week.
Japan's relations with China chilled in former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2001-2006 time in office, in part because of his repeated visits to the shrine where Japanese wartime leaders are honored along with the nation's war dead.
Ties improved after Koizumi left office, with the two subsequent prime ministers staying away from Yasukuni.
Japan's top government spokesman, Takeo Kawamura, earlier told a news conference the premier's offering was unlikely to jeopardize next week's Japan-China summit.
Koreans still chafe over Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945, while China has bitter memories of Japan's invasion and brutal occupation of parts of the country from 1931 to 1945.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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