COLOMBO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe offered flowers and worshipped Monday at a historic Buddhist temple outside Colombo as he wrapped up his two-nation South Asian tour that also took him to Bangladesh.

Abe, accompanied by his wife, spent 40 minutes at the Kelaniya Rajamaha temple.

During his overnight official visit, Abe had paid tribute to a former Sri Lanka President Junius Jayewardene.

Jayewardene had made an impassioned plea on behalf of Japan at the 1951 Peace Treaty signing in San Francisco which officially ended World War II, and demanded war reparations. Jayewardene declined compensation from Japan, which had carried out several aerial bombing raids in Colombo and the eastern port city of Trincomalee, a strategic staging post for allied troops.

After the San Francisco treaty, Tokyo became a strong political and economic ally of the island and is still Sri Lanka’s largest single donor of foreign aid.

In talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday, the two leaders agreed to forge stronger maritime links between their countries in a move seen as countering China’s influence in the region.