Former Taiwan president plans Japan visit in Sept

TAIPEI, Aug 14 (Reuters) Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui plans to visit Japan next month, a representative of his political party said today, a move likely to upset China because it sees Taiwan as a wayward province.

However, the exact timing and purpose of the visit were not decided yet, said a member of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, a small political party that regards Lee as its ideological leader.

Taiwan's Chinese-language Liberty Times reported today that Lee would visit Japan at the invitation of contacts in Japanese political circles and build relations as Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi prepares to transfer power.

Chinese officials have said that Lee, a one-time Taiwan independence advocate who stepped down as president in 2000, wants to cultivate ties with political contacts in Japan to bolster support for Taiwan independence.

Analysts have said some Japanese factions hope to have stronger ties with Taiwan due to Japan's rifts with China. Differences include Koizumi's annual visits to the Yasukuni shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with the nation's war dead.

''For Taiwan to declare independence, it would have to depend on Japan and the United States,'' said Pang Zhongying with the School of International Studies at People's University in Beijing. ''Lee Teng-hui will use his Japanese connections to attain more support.

This is his basic intention.'' Japan, which occupied Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, does not recognise Taiwan diplomatically. But it provides visas for unofficial trips by Lee, who attended university in Kyoto. China protests to Japan about each planned visit because of Lee's political background.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned in January that Lee's Japan trip planned for May would hurt Sino-Japanese relations.

Citing health reasons, Lee did not go.

REUTERS AB BS1219