Taiwan Transport Minister Lin Ling-san (
Lin will attend an inauguration ceremony for a vessel ordered by Taiwan's state-run Yangming Marine Transport Corp, the transport ministry official said.
The minister also plans to inspect new types of Japanese-made locomotives and carriages to be used in Taiwan's high-speed railway during a week-long trip that will take him to Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.
The US$5 billion bullet train project is expected to go into operation in 2005.
The United Daily News said Lin would also use the visit to "seek the opportunity of holding meetings on the revision of the air agreement."
To cater for the growing number of Taiwanese tourists visiting Japan, Taiwan tourism agents and air carriers have pushed for new flight routes to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Sendai, Miyazaki and Kagoshima, the paper said.
It added that the ministry tried to keep the visit low-profile for fear of sparking a protest from China.
Local newspapers said Tokyo agreed to talks but rejected a proposal for a third Taiwan airline to fly Taiwan-Japan routes.
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