Junichiro Koizumi, Japanese Prime Minister, said yesterday that Chinese President Hu Jintao was irrational for refusing to talk to him unless he stopped visiting a controversial war shrine. ‘No other country would say, 'I will meet you if you accept this condition' or 'I will not meet as you don't satisfy this condition,'’ told Koizumi in the latest exchange over the Yasukuni shrine. ‘I think it is unreasonable to say there will be no summit because of a difference in opinion over a single issue,’ he added. Hu said a delegation of Japanese lawmakers on Friday that he would only hold high-level talks with Japan. It happens just once Koizumi stopped visiting Yasukuni, which honours 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted war criminals. Speaking in Parliament, Koizumi commented that he had failed in Asian diplomacy. ‘I think it would be better to develop mutual friendship through dialogue when we face a problem or confrontation,’ told he.

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