Channel News Asia reports:

Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will head next week to China and South Korea in a bid to ease tense relations, officials from the three countries announced Wednesday.

China said that Abe would pay the first bilateral visit by a Japanese premier in five years after "overcoming the political obstacle to bilateral relations".

The statement by foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao did not specify the "obstacle". But previously it has been viewed as a codeword for visits to the controversial Yasukuni shrine.

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