China Hits at Japan Over Visa

China criticised Japan yesterday after Tokyo approved an application from Lee Teng-hui, the former president of Taiwan and a leading supporter of independence for the island, to pay a sightseeing visit to Japan later this month.

Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its own territory and urged Japan to reconsider, warning that allowing Mr Lee to visit would further damage Sino-Japanese ties already weakened by a series of diplomatic spats.

Japan has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and reiterated its support for Beijing's policy of reuniting Taiwan politically with the mainland. "I want to make it clear that Japan does not support Taiwanese independence," said a government spokesman, Hiroyuki Hosoda. He said he did not think granting the visa would have an impact on Japan's relations with China. "We want to continue to cooperate in a broad range of areas and deepen ties," he said.

But a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said: "We are resolutely opposed and requested the Japanese to cancel this decision or else it will certainly increase new influences on China-Japan relations."

Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating. Beijing is angered by Mr Koizumi's annual visits to a Shinto shrine to honour Japan's war dead, including war criminals. They have also clashed over the ownership of several island chains and the rights to gas fields in the East China Sea.

Relations were further soured last week when Japan identified China as a potential threat for the first time in a review of its defence policy.