Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group has been waiting for years to get permission to open a branch in Dalian, the coastal Chinese city closest to Japan. Last summer, regulators told one executive there to expect approval before the end of the year.
But in December, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s prime minister, visited the Yasukuni shrine, where war criminals are among those honoured, and the bank was told to either voluntarily withdraw its branch application or have it denied, Japanese bankers say.
Japanese direct investment in China is down 50 per cent from last year’s already reduced level, according to research from Mitsubishi UFJ.
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