TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao may delay a planned visit to Tokyo until May, Japanese media said on Wednesday, citing a row over Chinese-made dumplings that sickened 10 people in Japan.

Japanese officials have said Hu is likely to visit "about the time the cherry trees blossom," which is usually in April.

But both sides want to avoid the food-poisoning incident becoming the focus of the trip, which would be the first to Japan by a Chinese president in a decade, Kyodo news agency said.

"It would not be good for the dumplings incident to become the main issue of talks between the leaders," Kyodo quoted a Japanese government source as saying of Hu's planned meeting with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura brushed off the reports, saying the dates were still being worked out.

China and Japan are at odds over how the frozen dumplings were contaminated with insecticide, with Chinese investigators saying the dumplings had been sabotaged, most likely in Japan.

Japanese police have said the insecticide is banned in Japan.

Relations between the Asian neighbours have long been chilled by memories of Japan's invasion and occupation of much of China in the early 20th century, although ties have improved since a visit to Beijing by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (Reporting by Chisa Fujioka; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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