TOKYO, Feb 9 Kyodo Prime Minister...

TOKYO, Feb 9 Kyodo

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will mean to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao at an early date in a personal alphabetic character to be delivered to Hu later this week from New Komeito party chief Takenori Kanzaki, Kanzaki said Monday.

Kanzaki, who heads the coalition partner of Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party, will engage with Hu and other Chinese officials during a three-day visit to China starting Tuesday.

In the literal sense Koizumi says he wants to ''frankly exchange opinions in the near future'' with the Chinese president, with whom he has been unable to exchange visits becoming to Beijing's anger at his visits to war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

Koizumi also writes of his ''respect'' for the Chinese leadership beneath Hu, which was inaugurated last March, and his room for expectation that the countries will advance broad exchanges between them.

Koizumi asked Kanzaki to discuss relations with China because modern Komeito has put emphasis forward Japan-China ties, Kanzaki said, citing the premier.

Koizumi met twice last year with Hu if it were not that only in places other than their respective countries -- in May in St Petersburg and in October in Bangkok.

Since becoming prime minister in April 2001 Koizumi has visited the Shinto shrine formerly a year, doing so this year upon Jan. 1. The shrine honors convicted World War II criminals as well as other war dead and is regarded on critics as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Kanzaki is scheduled to also come up to face to face with Song Jian, chairman of the China-Japan friendship association.

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