BEIJING - TAIWAN'S biggest domestic box office hit, a love story involving its former coloniser Japan, will finally get a screening in China after a delay blamed on the movie's historical slant.

Taiwan's government and newspapers said last month that the Chinese release of 'Cape No. 7' had been delayed, possibly over its overly sentimental view of Japan's rule of Taiwan, a self-ruled island China claims as its own.

But the movie will now get its China premier on Feb 14, to coincide with Valentine's Day.

'The movie will screen on Feb 14, basically uncut, except for some foul language,' said a spokesman for local distributor China Film Group Corp.

China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television also confirmed by telephone that the movie had won permission to be shown.

The movie, already widely available in China on pirated DVDs, follows two Taiwan people who fall in love with Japanese, one of whom was involved in the colonisation of Taiwan between 1895 and 1945. Their stories reflect the tight bonds, both then and now, between Taiwan and Japan.

China distrusts Taiwan's relationship with Japan, in part because of ties left over from colonisation.

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

China-Taiwan ties have improved since last May, when a new president on the island jump-started two-way dialogue, and cultural links are strong, with Taiwan singers and movie stars especially popular in China. -- REUTERS