Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to the Yasukuni Shrine on Monday 21 April promptly provoking a sharp riposte from Beijing and Seoul the same day. Shinzo Abe sent a branch of a sacred tree engraved with his name and official title to the Shrine. The offering was made just two days prior to US President Barack Obama's visit to Tokyo.

Yang Bojiang, Deputy Director of the Institute of Japan Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) charged Shinzo Abe with trying to play both sides by keeping the 'right' happy, but warned that he would succeed only in annoying both.