Taiwan's Lee to visit Tokyo war shrine Thurs--Kyodo

TOKYO, June 6 (Reuters) Former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui, riticised by Beijing for asserting the self-ruled island's sovereignty, will visit a controversial Tokyo war shrine tomorrow morning, Kyodo news agency reported, quoting sources.

Lee has said since arriving in Japan last week that he wanted to visit Yasukuni Shrine, seen by many in Asia as a symbol of Japan's militarism before and during World War Two.

China has warned Japan it was putting relations at risk by allowing Lee to visit the country.

China considers Taiwan, which Japan colonised for half a century up to 1945, as its sovereign territory.

Tokyo has said Lee's visit was for tourism only and should have no impact on its ties with Beijing, only recently warming after a deep chill caused largely by then-prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's pilgrimages to Yasukuni during his five years in office until last September.

Yasukuni honours millions of Japanese war dead -- among them soldiers from Taiwan and Korea who fought for Japan, their colonial ruler at the time -- but also some convicted war criminals including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo.

Lee's older brother died fighting for the Japanese.

Kyodo said that the 84-year-old Lee -- who led Taiwan from 1988 to 2000 -- wanted to pay his respects at the shrine before leaving Japan on Saturday night, but might cancel the planned visit if he didn't feel well.

A visit to the shrine could further annoy Beijing and risk damaging the fragile rapprochement in Sino-Japanese ties that began after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in September and made an ice-breaking trip to Beijing.

Before becoming prime minister, Abe had backed Koizumi's visits to Yasukuni, but he has declined to say whether he would go there while in the country's top post.

In another move that might irk Beijing, Japan's Justice Ministry decided to let US-based Chinese pro-democracy activist Wei Jingsheng enter the country to receive a medical exam because of a worsening medical condition, Kyodo reported.

Wei had arrived at Tokyo's Narita airport on the weekend to attend an event to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators which killed hundreds, possibly thousands, of students and workers.

But Japanese immigration authorities had refused him permission to enter the country because he lacked a visa. He has been staying at a hotel near the airport since his arrival.

Wei, 57, suffers from diabetes, Kyodo said.

Reuters AM RS2124