Mori begins three-day Taiwan trip

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) yesterday met visiting former Japanese prime minister Yoshiro Mori, who arrived yesterday for a three-day private visit despite Beijing's complaints about the trip.

Presidential Office Secretary General Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) greeted Mori at CKS International Airport, where Mori's flight landed at 12:50pm. Mori is the second former Japanese prime minister to visit Taiwan following his predecessor, Takeo Fukuda.

Chen hosted a banquet for Mori at the Presidential Office at 7pm. Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (黃志芳) said Chen's friendship with Mori began when Chen visited Japan as the Democratic Progressive Party's presidential candidate in July 1999.

Mori was invited to Taiwan by national policy adviser Fan Jen-hui (方仁惠). The Taipei Office of the Japanese Interchange Association and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were tight-lipped about details of Mori's itinerary, saying his trip was a personal one.

Mori checked in at Taipei's Grand Formosa Regent Hotel at around 2pm and left the hotel with Fan roughly 30 minutes later. A number of Japanese officials and members of a Japanese rugby association were in Mori's entourage.

Mori was in Beijing from Dec. 14 to Dec. 16, according to the Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, which quoted Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) as describing Mori's visits in quick succession to Beijing and Taipei as "puzzling."

The report said Wang also noted the Japanese government should deal with the Taiwan issue carefully.

Mori was reportedly scheduled to meet with former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and the Taiwanese alumni of Japan's Waseda University, including Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂), a national policy adviser and chairman of the World United Formosans for Independence.

Prime minister in 2000 and 2001, Mori braved domestic and foreign pressure to issue a Japanese visa for Lee to receive medical treatment in Japan in April 2001.

Keeping a distance from trailing reporters who asked Mori whether he will be meeting with Lee, Mori replied, "I don't know" in Japanese and declined to answer further questions.

The government laid on unusual security for the former Japanese prime minister, deploying police cars and motorcycles to escort his entourage.

Mori, campaigning for Japan's bid for the 2011 Rugby World Cup, visited Taiwan's rugby association yesterday afternoon to solicit its support for the bid. An association official said Mori's visit greatly encouraged them.

Mori's last trip to Taiwan was in March 1996, when he just completed his term as international trade and industry minister. During the trip, Mori witnessed Taiwan's presidential election and China's missile tests in the Taiwan Strait.

Mori said before he arrived this time that his visit carried no political significance and that he would not be speaking with Taiwanese politicians.

A source at the Presidential Office said Chen's dinner with Mori showed that top-ranking officials in the two countries have built up a close personal relationship -- an important element of politics in Japan.

The source, noting that Mori is a supporter of current Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, predicted a diplomatic breakthrough with Japan in the near future.