BEIJING - China warned Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Friday against visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead, repeating its opposition to the visits as speculation mounts he will go again.

Yasukuni is seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's past militarism. The issue of Japan's wartime invasion and atrocities fuelled angry protests in China last year, and Beijing regards Koizumi's visits as blocking improvement of the two countries' sour relations.

China has always opposed Japanese leaders' visits to the shrine, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a faxed statement.

"This position is clear and consistent. We hope that Japan's leaders can be highly responsible towards history, the people and the future and change their erroneous ways," the statement said.

Opinion is growing that Koizumi will revisit the shrine, possibly on the symbolic August 15 anniversary of Japan's surrender in World War Two.

Fourteen wartime leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as "Class A" war criminals are honoured there alongside 2.5 million war dead.

Koizumi has visited the shrine each year and so far has avoided the anniversary in an apparent effort to moderate Asian outrage.