Taiwan ex-leader visits Japan war shrine to honour brother (2nd Lead)

Jun 7, 2007, 7:43 GMT

Tokyo - Former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui on Thursday visited a Tokyo shrine that honours Japan's war dead to pay tribute to his brother, who served in the Japanese imperial army during World War II.

Lee, who is on an 11-day sightseeing trip in Japan, entered the main hall of the Yasukuni Shrine to honour his brother, who died in the Philippines at a time when Taiwan was a Japanese colony.

The war museum on the shrine's grounds has a photograph of Lee's brother on the wall under his Japanese name, Takenori Iwasato.

'I feel like weeping for being able to see my brother for the first time in 62 years,' Lee said after the shrine visit.

The visit was likely to irk China, which has protested Lee's trip to Japan as well as Japanese leaders' visits to the Yusukuni Shrine, which also honours convicted war criminals.

China and other Asian nations that suffered under Japan's often brutal occupation before and during World War II have criticized the visits as paying tribute to Japan's militaristic past.

China also view Lee, 84, as a separatist who advocates Taiwan's formal independence from China.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shrugged off Lee's visit to Japan as the former leader's private business and said a visit to the Yasukuni - which honours 2.5 million war dead, including about 27,000 from Taiwan - would be up to Lee to decide.

'We recognize that former president Lee has come to Japan as a private person,' Abe said. 'As a private person, needless to say, he has freedom of religion. Japan is a free country.'

Lee also stressed that the shrine visit was a private one and should not be linked with politics.

'This visit is purely for family reasons, and I hope you will not link it with politics or history,' Lee said in fluent Japanese at a Tokyo hotel before visiting the shrine.

The Taiwan government said it respected Lee's decision to visit the site.

'Lee Teng-hui is now a private citizen and visiting the Yukusuni Shrine is his personal decision which has nothing to do with politics,' Foreign Minister James Huang said.

Before Lee's visit, China cautioned Japan to handle it appropriately, according to the Kyodo News Agency, which cited Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao from Berlin.

'The Japanese side should be well aware what type of person Lee is and what the purpose of his activities are,' Liu was quoted as saying, but added his visit would not have an adverse impact on China-Japan relations.

Abe and Chinese President Hu Jintao were expected to meet Friday at the summit of the Group of Eight key industrialized countries in Germany.

China and Taiwan split at the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing still regards the island as a part of China that must be brought back into its fold, by force if necessary.

Lee Teng-hui was expected to leave Japan Saturday.

'I will go there for a family matter,' Lee said before the visit. 'I just hope to express my gratitude for the shrine having treasured my brother's spirit.'