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http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050404/wl _asia_afp/taiwanjapanwarshrine_050404064213

Taiwan opposition leader to visit Japan war shrine amid criticism

Mon Apr 4, 2:42 AM ET Asia - AFP

TAIPEI, (AFP) - Su Chin-chaing, head of a hardline pro-independence Taiwan opposition party, was to visit a war shrine during a visit to Tokyo, a top aide said as the visit sparked criticism at home.

AFP/File Photo

Su heads the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) and is on a four-day visit to Japan. He was to visit the Yasukuni Shrine dedicated to Japan's war dead later Monday, TSU spokesman Chen Chien-ming told AFP.

"Su will pay his respects to about 28,000 Taiwanese soldiers enshrined there ahead of Tomb Sweeping Day," Chen said, referring to a Chinese holiday.

"We do not agree with the acts and invasions of the Japanese militarism (during World War II) but we should not let hatred persist," he said.

Taiwan was ruled by Japan for 50 year after 1895, before its wartime defeat. During the conflict, some Taiwanese men were enlisted by the Japanese military while women were forced to become sex slaves for Japanese soldiers.

Aboriginal lawmaker Kao-Chin Su-mei objected to Su's visit.

"Japan launched over 160 battles to destroy Taiwan's aboriginal tribes during its 51-year colony on the island," he said in a statement.

"We strongly protest the TSU visiting the Yasukuni Shrine... It is already an insult to Taiwan's aboriginal people that our soldiers were enshrined there."

TSU's Chen defended the visit, saying Taiwan's former ruling Kuomintang (KMT) had also enlisted Taiwanese people to fight wars on the mainland.

"The KMT government had forced Taiwanese people to fight its wars in China. Now the Chinese government is also bullying Taiwan," he said.

The KMT or Nationalists fled China in 1949 after losing a civil war to the communists. It ruled the island for more than 50 years before being defeated by the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party in 2000.

Su, chairman of the TSU which holds 12 seats in the 225-member parliament, is also expected to meet Japanese politicians.

His schedule is kept secret due to "pressure from China," Chen said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has visited the shrine four times since August 2001, angering Asian neighbors who fell victim to Japan's wartime aggression.

The Shinto shrine, dedicated to 2.5 million war dead including 14 convicted war criminals, also enshrines thousands of Taiwanese and Koreans who died in war, most of whom had been forced into service under Japan's colonial rule.

KMT head Lien Chan last week made a private visit to Japan, in part to see the World Exposition in central Aichi province, and held no official meetings, the Japanese foreign ministry said earlier.

China strongly protested in January when Japan allowed a "private visit" by Taiwan's former nationalist president Lee Teng-Hui.