BEIJING, Oct 8: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Sunday that Japan will never forget the “enormous damage and pain” it caused in Asia during World War II, as he visited China to mend ties soured by historical issues.

Abe, an outspoken nationalist, has in the past largely avoided expressions of regret for Japan’s wartime behavior.

But Abe said he told Chinese leaders during a Sino-Japanese summit on Sunday that Japan reflected on its history.

“I told them that Japan once caused enormous damage and pain and scars to the people of Asian nations. With this deep self-reflection, we have lived the past 60 years,” Abe told a news conference in Beijing.

“This is something common among people including myself who have lived in the past 60 years. This will not change in the future,” Abe said.

China refused to invite Abe’s predecessor Junichiro Koizumi for several years due to his repeated visits to a shrine honoring war dead and war criminals.

Abe has studiously refused to say if he will visit the Yasukuni shrine, which honours war dead and war criminals alike.

Abe said he believed Chinese leaders understood his view.

“As it is now a diplomatic and political problem, I told them that I won’t make remarks about whether I went to the shrine or will go to the shrine,” Abe said.

SEA DISPUTE: The leaders of China and Japan pledged on Sunday to peacefully resolve a drawn-out territorial dispute over the potentially resource-rich East China Sea, the Chinese foreign ministry said.