Japan PM's China overture at risk if cabinet minister visits shrine

Women in yukatas, or casual summer kimonos, look at paper lanterns during the Mitama Festival at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, July 13, 2013. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's efforts to improve strained ties with China by staying away from a Tokyo shrine to war dead could be thwarted if cabinet members and a ruling party executive pay their respects there next week.

Often fragile Sino-Japanese relations have been badly frayed for nearly a year by a row over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, disputes over Japan's wartime history, and regional rivalries.