Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologised today for the "tremendous damage and suffering" caused by Japan's wartime past to Asia in an apparent effort to help defuse a row with China.
Mr Koizumi made the apology during a speech at a multilateral summit in Jakarta in front of leaders from 100 Asian and African countries, including Chinese President Hu Jintao, whom he is likely to meet in the coming days.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
Officials were trying to arrange a meeting for sometime tomorrow or later, a source said.
"In the past, Japan, through its colonial rule and aggression, caused tremendous damage and suffering to the people of many countries, particularly to those of Asian nations," Mr Koizumi said during the opening of the Asia-Africa summit.
"Japan squarely faces these facts of history in a spirit of humility," he said, adding the Japanese people have engraved in their minds "feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology".
The apology conforms with past statements by Tokyo, but such an admission in front of an international audience is rare.
Relations between China and Japan are at their worst since they normalised ties in 1972.
Thousands have demonstrated in cities across China the past three weekends in violent protests against Tokyo's campaign for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, and
Japanese textbooks that critics say whitewashes its wartime history.
Both sides have been making some effort to keep relations from unravelling and damaging economic ties worth $212 billion in annual trade.
But in a development that could stir fresh outrage in China, 80 Japanese members of parliament turned out today to pay their respects to Japan's war dead at a Tokyo shrine that has become a symbol of the animosity
A spokesman for the group said the visits to the Yasukuni Shrine were intended to honour the dead and pray for peace, not to anger China or South Korea, both of which were victims of Japanese military aggression.
Ties with China chilled markedly after Mr Koizumi took office in 2001 and began annual visits to Yasukuni. He has not visited yet this year.