Japan's Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki, who publicly announced his bid to run for the president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said on Thursday he would not visit the controversial Yasukuni Shrine if elected.

Tanigaki, who becomes the country's first announced candidate to be the successor of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, told reporters that he wants to improve relations with China and South Korea.

Tanigaki said that it was not normal that a Japanese prime minister can not hold talks with neighboring countries easily. He said he would reconstruct Japan's Asian diplomacy.

"I do not intend to visit the shrine if I become prime minister, " he said.

Koizumi, who is expected to step down as premier in September when his tenure as LDP president expires, has visited the Shinto shrine five times since taking office in April 2001.

His visits there have severely hurt the feelings of Asian people who suffered from atrocities by Japanese aggression army before and during the World War II and have drawn indignation and protests from China and South Korea.

Tanigaki, 61, also said that Japan's consumption tax needs to be raised to 10 percent from the current 5 percent by the mid- 2010s. The minister said before that the tax must be raised in the near future because the new administration must achieve a surplus in the primary balance -- tax revenues minus outlays other than debt-servicing costs -- in fiscal 2011 under the government's economic blueprints for 2006.

The leadership of Japan's ruling party carries with it Japan's premiership, since the LDP is dominant in the powerful House of Representatives.

Tanigaki is among the hopeful candidates for the party's leadership, together with Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Taro Aso. His public support rate, though, is not the highest.

The veteran lawmaker has been at key Cabinet posts such as minister for industrial revitalization and chairman of the National Public Safety Commission.

Abe and Aso are expected to announce their candidacies for LDP presidency in late August, according to media reports.

Last week, Japanese former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, the second most popular candidates, said he would not run in the LDP's presidential election scheduled for Sept. 20.

Source: Xinhua