Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who arrived in Sri Lanka just a short while ago, said he hoped Sri Lanka's war crimes probe would silence its critics. 

Abe had told the local Sunday Times newspaper he also hoped Sri Lanka could achieve "true national reconciliation" five years after the military crushed ethnic Tamil rebels to end the island's separatist war.

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A day before the Japanese Prime Minister's visit, Yasushi Akashi, who was at one point the Japanese special envoy to Sri Lanka, called on Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees. 

Abe, upon his arrival, noted that Colombo, which has refused to cooperate with the UN-mandated probe, had expanded the mandate of its own inquiry into those disappearances during the war to include investigating war crimes claims. "Japan hopes such efforts made by Sri Lanka will lead to dispel concerns indicated in the resolution by the UN Human Rights Council," Abe told the local newspaper.

Japan remained neutral at the UN Human Rights Council vote in March that voted to set up the war crimes probe. Over the past six decade, the countries had remained a close ally to Sri Lanka especially on the economic development front.

Abe arrives from Bangladesh later Sunday as part of a regional tour aimed at boosting trade and offsetting China's mounting influence in South Asia. Abe, who is travelling to Colombo with a business delegation, will be the first Japanese premier in 24 years to visit the Indian Ocean island.

He is  to hold talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse on expanding their economic and political ties, the Sri Lankan government announced prior to the visit.