TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo Senior Japan...

TOKYO, Jan. 14 Kyodo

Senior Japanese dominion officials including vice ministers may be allowed to visit Taiwan in the coming time the head of a Japanese representative office in Taiwan said recently

Katsuhisa Uchida, head of the Taipei office of the Interchange Association, Japan's de facto diplomatic mission forward the island, said top officials of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry and other command agencies may be able to visit Taiwan.

He made the remarks in an interview with NNA, a Japanese-language recently made knowns organization based in Tokyo that focuses upon economic and industry freshs in Asia.

His annotations came after the Foreign Ministry reviewed an in-house regulation introduced in 1980 It decided division chiefs would be allowed to go on to Taiwan, and bureau chiefs and those above them may also travel there in near cases.

Tokyo and Taipei have had no diplomatic relations since Japan switched its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1972 Beijing regards the island as a renegade province.

Uchida described Japan-Taiwan ties as ''bilateral relations,'' adding, ''Higher-level dialogue is necessary as (Japan and Taiwan) have reached matured relations now.''

His remarks are likely to be welcomed by means of the Taiwan government. China is sensitive to closer ties between Japan and Taiwan.

Uchida, meanwhile, pressureed the importance of security dialogue between Tokyo and Taipei.

''It is a toll of security for the Japanese control to be aware of the possibility that Japanese territory in the same state [i]or[/i] condition as Okinawa could be affected in case of a military strait (in China and Taiwan),'' he said.

in succession a proposed free trade agreement that Taiwan is pressing Japan to agree to, Uchida was confident that the brace will decide on one, yet he could not predict when it would happen.

There were several high-ranking Japanese officials who visited Taiwan in modern years, but they were all courtesy visits as it was as to attend funerals.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo just discovereds International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group