TOKYO: More than half of Japanese voters feel Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is not doing enough to improve ties with China, which have deteriorated to their worst level in decades. According to a public opinion poll conducted by Kyodo news agency on Monday and Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of Koizumi taking office, 55.6 percent of the more than 1,000 voters surveyed said the prime minister's efforts to mend ties "were not enough." No further details were given, but a newspaper poll published on Monday showed that 48 percent of respondents said Koizumi should stop visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many at home and abroad as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. Koizumi and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to mend ruptured ties after a meeting at the weekend on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta, a move hailed by some Japanese officials as an important step forward. |