TOKYO, November 21: Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto today moved to squelch rumours that he may have compromised national security by having an affair with a Chinese woman years ago.

The relationship between the woman and Prime Minister Hashimoto has been targeted by Opposition politicians on the basis of reports in the tabloid press.

The reports not only call the woman a mistress of Hashimoto, but also claim she is a Chinese Government spy and suggest Hashimoto's relationship with her may have been a breach of national security.

The Prime Minister's Office responded by denying the allegations and stating no probe into the charges is merited, according to a copy of a letter.

The letter was addressed to Shingo Nishimura, a member of the Japanese Opposition New Frontier Party, who grilled Hashimoto about his relationship with the woman, earlier this month in Parliament.

Known as a conservative ``China Hawk'' for his hard line on Communist China, Nishimura dismissed Hashimoto's response, saying, ``I don't believe a word of it,'' he said in a phone interview, pledging to renew his call for an investigation of the allegations.

Hashimoto has acknowledged writing to the woman and treating her to lunch as a way of showing his appreciation for her work as a Chinese Government translator when he visited China. He reportedly met her in the early `80s during a visit to Beijing as an up-and-coming legislator in Japan's dominant Liberal Democratic Party. The woman served at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo for a brief period in the mid-80's and, after returning to China, divorced her first husband in 1989.

Many of the reports focussing on Hashimoto's alleged marital infidelity cite letters exchanged with the woman, purportedly provided by the woman's ex-husband.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.