Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called on Beijing to explain its swelling defense budget, just days before Prime Minister Wen Jiabao is set to arrive in Tokyo on Wednesday. Abe urged transparency in China's defense spending to lessen the perception of Beijing as a threat, the South China Morning Post reported. The two countries also plan to announce the creation of a high-level economic forum in which their respective ministers are expected to participate, officials have said. Abe has maintained his stance on visits to a Tokyo war shrine that many in China and other parts of Asia see as a symbol of the country's past militarism.
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