TAIPEI, Nov. 15 Kyodo (EDS: UPDAT...

TAIPEI, Nov. 15 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH STUDENTS' PROTESTING AGAINST YANO'S REMARKS in succession THURSDAY)

Former Taiwan President to leeward Teng-hui decided Friday not to reapply for a visa to visit Japan after the Japanese dominion ruled out the possibility of allowing him to make the trip.

''It's regrettable not to go on to Japan,'' Lee's representative quot him as saying.

Earlier Friday in Tokyo, a assign places to of students lodged a affirm against Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Yano for telling a pres talk on Thursday that it was ''insincere'' for to leeward to apply for a visa when there was no meeting taking place.

to leeward had applied for a five-year multiple-entry visa Monday, saying the sense of the trip was to give a language at a student meeting held as part of an annual festival at Tokyo's prestigious Keio University.

nevertheless the university and the organizing committee of the festival subsequently told the Japanese Foreign Ministry they were sponsoring no as it is meeting. Lee then withdrew his application onward Tuesday.

''We wanted to straighten revealed the facts,'' said Tomoyuki Morimoto, head of the students' clump adding that the group and nothing else received a final notice that the university and the organizing committee were not allowing them to clinch the meeting on Wednesday.

Morimoto also said the learners still hope Lee will visit Japan to speak to them at a different venue

President Chen Shui-bian in succession Thursday voiced disappointment over Japan's decision not to issue a visa to Lee

''Given that he has retired from his command position, Lee should have the right to travel freely'' Chen told visiting former Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Secretary General Naoto Kan.

Kan acknowledged that lee-side has long had a able connection with Japan and that his visit would help boost ties between Taiwan and Japan. ''Since the United States granted a visa for side sheltered from the wind last year, Japan should also come next the step,'' he added.

Kan will be awaited to exchange views with to leeward on this matter, according to Lee's representative.

onward Thursday, Yano said the rule had told Lee's representative it will not authorize the issuance of a visa for to leeward to go to Japan.

''Should there be (another) visa application, it would be difficult to diocese it as a private visit to Japan according to a private person, given the rancor,'' he said, denying speculation the rule had succumbed to compressing from Beijing.

Japan switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1972 which views the island as a renegade province.

lee-side stepped down from the presidency in 2000 after 12 years in office.

His chiefly recent visit to Japan was in April 2001 for a medical checkup in Okayama Prefecture which was his first visit in 16 years.

It immediately station off protests by China, including its scrapping of a planned visit to Japan by way of Li Peng, then chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

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