Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Tuesday he would visit a controversial war shrine again next year, days after lingering resentment at Japan's wartime atrocities fuelled Chinese fans' anti-Japanese hostility at the Asian Cup.

Koizumi's annual visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni shrine dedicated to Japan's war dead have outraged Asian neighbors including China that were victims of Japanese aggression in World War II.

He last visited on January 1, his fourth such trip.

"I visited this year on New Year's Day already so I have no plans to visit," Koizumi said Tuesday when asked if he would make a pilgrimage on August 15, the anniversary of Japan's World War II surrender.

"I will visit next year," he vowed however.

The Tokyo shrine honors 2.5 million Japanese fallen in modern wars, including World War II leaders hanged by the US-led allied powers as war criminals.

Chinese fans attacked a Japanese embassy official's car in Beijing Saturday and burned Japanese flags after Japan beat China 3-1 in the Asian Cup final.

Banners demanding a Japanese apology for wartime atrocities appeared in the stands at Japan's games and in post-match incidents fans threw bottles, shouted anti-Japanese obscenities and demanded a boycott of Japanese goods.

Chinese animosity towards Japan has festered since Japan's imperial army invaded and occupied China from September 1931 to August 1945.

Koizumi's previous visits have been a source of friction between Beijing and Tokyo.

Beijing has not granted any high level bilateral visits, such as by Koizumi to China, as a result of the shrine visits.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda, the government's top spokesman, downplayed the rioting.

"We view this as an isolated phenomenon and do not believe this is a grave situation," he said Tuesday.

He added that the government was "making efforts to realize" an official visit by Koizumi to China "as soon as possible."

Source: Agencies