FACTBOX: Facts on Japan-Taiwan relations

(Reuters) - Former Taiwan president Lee Teng-hui, despised by Beijing for asserting the self-ruled island's sovereignty, has visited Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine, seen by China as a symbol of past Japanese militarism.

Unlike much of Asia, which still harbors strong resentment toward Japan due to atrocities committed during World War Two, Taiwan maintains a more friendly attitude toward Japan.

Here are some facts on relations between Taiwan and Japan.

HISTORICAL TIES:

* China's Manchu authorities ceded Taiwan to Japan after they were defeated in the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War. In May 1895 a Japanese military force invaded and ended the island's short-lived self-declared "Taiwanese Democratic Republic".

COLONIAL OCCUPATION:

* Japan occupied Taiwan for 50 years until 1945, modernizing its infrastructure before handing the island to Chinese control after its World War Two defeat. Japan recognized Taiwan as a sovereign state for two decades after it split from China following a 1949 civil war.

UNOFFICIAL RELATIONS:

* A Joint Communique established the current friendly but non-governmental Tokyo-Taipei relations in 1972, when Tokyo, along with many others, recognized the People's Republic of China after it entered the United Nations. The mainland's "One China" policy precludes a country having diplomatic ties with both China and Taiwan, so relations are handled by the Japanese Interchange Association rather than the government.

MODERN U.S. ALLIES:

* Allies since Cold War times, Japan and Taiwan both maintain defense relations with the U.S., which pledges to defend them in any conflict and stationed troops in Taiwan until 1979. China's stance that Taiwan is a renegade province rather than a sovereign state means any statements made by the U.S. and Japan about Taiwan are generally taken as an unwelcome interference in its internal affairs.

TRAVEL AND TENSIONS:

* Tokyo liberalized its visa requirements to allow Taiwan residents to travel to Japan without visas in 2005. Taipei agreed to consult Tokyo if politically sensitive figures, like President Chen Shui-bian, apply to travel. Visas remain a source of tension -- Tokyo angered Beijing two years ago by granting a tourist visa for Taiwan's ex-president Lee.

Sources: Reuters, A Political Chronology of Central, South and East Asia, Europa 2001