Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui said Saturday he supports Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine.
"It is natural for a premier of a country to commemorate the souls of people who lost their lives for their country," Lee said in an interview during a two-week private visit to the United States.
Lee also said there is no reason for foreign countries to tell Koizumi not to visit the shrine.
His comments are likely to irritate China, which has strongly protested Koizumi's visits. Beijing views Yasukuni as symbolic of Japan's militarist past.
Koizumi has visited the shrine once a year since becoming prime minister in April 2001 for a total of four visits. He has not paid homage at the shrine this year.
Meanwhile, Lee said increases in China's military spending have been a threat to its neighbors.
He welcomed a Japan-U.S. joint security statement issued in February, which calls for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue as part of the two countries' "common strategic objectives" in the Asia-Pacific region.
China sees Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory and has threatened to attack the island should it declare formal independence.