The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said a high-ranking Japanese official had made a personal visit to Taiwan last month to meet with the president and the premier.
According to Japan's Kyodo news agency, Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, senior vice agriculture minister, visited Taiwan on Aug. 15 for three days and met President Chen Shui-bian (
Miyakoshi is the highest-ranking Japanese official to visit Taiwan since Taiwan and Japan broke off diplomatic relations in 1972.
Miyakoshi is a member of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party and is a member of the House of Representative representing the the second single-seat district of Toyama Prefecture. He is serving his fourth term.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe yesterday said that he knew about Miyakoshi's visit and said it was a personal trip rather than an official one.
Asked about the Japanese official's visit, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) yesterday said that Taiwan and Japan interact with each other through many different channels, including education, sports and culture and other less-important issues.
But Lu declined to confirm whether Miyakoshi discussed the issue of the Diaoyutais with Taiwan's leaders.
Deputy secretary-general of the ministry's Association of East Asian Relations James Liao (廖經邦) yesterday said he had no comment on Miyakoshi's visit but said that local leaders in Taiwan and Japan have visited each other frequently.
"Six Japanese governors have been to Taiwan between January and July and the ministry considers it meaningful that two governors have visited Taiwan in the last two months even after China protested a visit to Taiwan in July by governor of Tottori Prefecture," Liao said.
In Japan, Miyakoshi confirmed yesterday that he had met with Chen and other senior Taiwanese officials during his recent trip.
At his meeting with Chen, Miyakoshi said: "We talked about various items, like fisheries issues."
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, who is likely to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later this month, said Miyakoshi did not represent the Japanese government.
"We knew that he was going to Taiwan as a private individual," Abe told a press conference.
"Japan's basic stance on our relations with Taiwan remains the same as it is spelled out in the Japan-China joint communique," Abe said.
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