Koizumi defends war shrine visits

Sino-Japanese ties have chilled markedly since Koizumi took office in 2001 and began annual visits to Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals are honoured along with Japan's war dead. 

"It is incomprehensible to me why foreign governments would make a diplomatic issue out of a matter of the heart," Koizumi said in his first news conference of the year, reiterating that he made the pilgrimages to honour the war dead and demonstrate his commitment to peace.