Staff writer
Nobuo Matsunaga, a former Japanese ambassador to the United States, made a secret visit to Taiwan and met with President Lee Teng-hui in the fall of 1995, informed sources said Wednesday.
The trip by Matsunaga -- who at the time held the ministerial-level post of a government representative -- marked a clear deviation from the government's long-held policy of imposing strict limits on official contacts with Taiwan. No Japanese Cabinet minister has visited Taipei.