LEAD: Taiwan's Lee tours Nagoya as China fumes

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Dec 29, 2004

NAGOYA, Dec. 28 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATES)

Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui was hounded by news media Tuesday while he toured Nagoya amid strong Chinese protests over Tokyo's decision to allow him to make a weeklong trip to Japan.

Lee visited Nagoya Castle and reminisced about the time he was stationed in the city after being drafted by the Imperial Japanese Army.

''The weather is good,'' Lee, smiling broadly, told reporters upon his arrival at the castle, his first sightseeing spot in the central Japan city.

Amid tight security, Lee toured the castle with family members.

''It is different from what I saw 60 years ago,'' the 81-year-old Lee said, referring to his experiences as a soldier in the city.

After taking a brief rest at a tea house on the castle grounds, Lee headed to the Tokugawa Art Museum, a privately endowed museum housing items mostly related to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate that began in 1603.

''The museum is supposed to be closed today, but the Lee family was received warmly by Tokugawa's descendents,'' Lee's close friend Peng Ron-tze said.

Lee will also visit Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the next two days and then Kyoto, where his alma mater Kyoto University is located. He is to meet with one of his old teachers before flying back to Taipei from Osaka on Sunday.

Lee, who grew up under Japanese rule, had developed an affinity for Japan even before he visited the country for further study.

He was granted a tourist visa last Tuesday, and arrived in Nagoya on Monday, the first visit since a five-day trip in April 2001 for heart treatment in Okayama Prefecture.

Although the Japanese government has reiterated that the trip does not violate its long-term policy not to have official contact with Taiwan as Lee is traveling as a private citizen, Beijing has continued to lodge strong protests, calling Lee a troublemaker.

During his 12 years as Taiwan's president, Lee strove to carry out polices viewed by many as steps to distance the island from China.

China, which sees Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory, was infuriated when Lee defined cross-strait ties as a ''special state-to-state relationship'' in 1999 and has since halted cross-strait dialogue.

China retaliated against Japan's granting of a visa to Lee three years ago by calling off a trip to Japan by Li Peng, then head of China's parliament.