TAIPEI - TAIWAN will try to improve relations with Japan following strained ties with its former colonial ruler since President Ma Ying-jeou came to office, the government said on Wednesday.

Chilled by a territorial dispute over offshore islets and Taiwan's improved ties with long-time rival China since Ma took office in May, Japan has reexamined its relations with the island it colonised from 1895 to 1945.

'The government of Taiwan has designated 2009 as the year for bolstering its special partnership with Japan,' the foreign ministry said in a statement. 'During the next 12 months, Taiwan will intensify bilateral relations with Japan and will promote dialogue and cooperation.'

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Party fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

Taiwan and Japan faced off last year over competing claims to eight uninhabited but strategically important East China Sea islands, rich in fisheries and possible undersea natural gas reserves. China claims the islets as well.

Japan seeks more dialogue with Taiwan to control any future disputes, said Tsutsumi Naohiro, director-general at the de facto Japanese embassy in Taipei.

'We need to find more ways to talk to the Ma government,' he said. 'Ma was elected, so we should respect his policies.' -- REUTERS