Koizumi criticized at NPC

Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said in a press conference during the National People's Congress that China will never accept visits by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan's war dead, including World War II Class-A war criminals are entombed. Political analysts said that Li's remarks indicated that there would be no visits by Koizumi to Beijing or by Chinese President Hu Jintao or Premier Wen Jiabao to Tokyo in the foreseeable future. China recently told Japan that the Yasukuni visits were the reason for rejecting a Japanese bid for the planned high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai.