LEAD: Ex-lawmaker Nonaka cancels China trip over Taiwan visa issue

Asian Political News, Dec 29, 2004

TOKYO, Dec. 25 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING NONAKA RETIRED FROM POLITICS IN 2ND GRAF)

Hiromu Nonaka, a former secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Saturday he will call off a trip to China in January because the Japanese government issued a visa to former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui earlier this week.

Nonaka, a former lawmaker who retired from politics last year, told reporters in Tokyo, ''The visa issuance to former Taiwan President Lee is disrespectful to China and it is not appropriate for me to visit the country now.''

Nonaka, 79, was scheduled to visit China from Jan. 11 along with LDP Diet Affairs Committee Chairman Hidenao Nakagawa and former LDP Secretary General Makoto Koga.

Nonaka said he told Nakagawa and Koga, both senior LDP lawmakers, on Friday that he will cancel the trip.

Nakagawa and Koga are expected to visit China as scheduled.

The Japanese government issued a visa to Lee on Tuesday despite strong protests from China, which regards Lee as a main figure behind the independence movement in Taiwan. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi maintained Japan has ''no reason to deny'' Lee a visa as he is visiting Japan as ''a private citizen.''

China sees Taiwan as part of its inseparable territory that should be reunited, by force if necessary.

Nonaka said Saturday, ''Even though Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says Mr. Lee is a private citizen, he cannot be. I am serving as an honorary adviser to the Japan-China Friendship Association and have been asked by officials concerned to reconsider the China trip.'' Nonaka did not elaborate.

Lee, along with family members and a doctor, is scheduled to arrive at Nagoya airport next Monday, and to visit Nagoya, Kanazawa and Kyoto, where he studied at Kyoto Imperial University, now Kyoto University. He will leave for home from Nagoya on Jan. 2.

Lee, the first directly elected president of Taiwan, last visited Japan in April 2001 for treatment of a heart condition.