`On Taiwan' author may be admitted

The Executive Yuan yesterday formally backtracked from a decision to bar Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi (小林善紀) from entering the country, saying the decision, made by officials from the Ministry of the Interior on Friday, should be reconsidered in order to avoid damaging Taiwan's democratic image in the international community.

Kobayashi's comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) which states that Taiwanese women volunteered to work as sex slaves, or so-called "comfort women," for the Japanese army during World War II, has provoked severe criticism from opposition lawmakers, history scholars and women's groups.

Other references in the book to Taiwan's history under Japanese colonial rule were also criticized for twisting the facts.

The Cabinet yesterday released a statement saying that an interior ministry decision to bar Yoshinori Kobayashi from the island "was still not definite." High-ranking officials meanwhile said that the decision was inappropriate.

"Basically, the Executive Yuan does not agree with the interior ministry's decision," said secretary general to the premier Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), "and we have asked the interior ministry to further deliberate on the matter."

Interior Minister Chang Po-ya (張博雅), who announced on Friday that a commission in her department had voted to bar Kobayashi's visit to Taiwan on March 8, said yesterday that she had still not approved the decision.

"I will consult with President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) about this matter before making a final decision," Chang said.

"However, I did not hear any criticism of the Japanese government nor the US government for violating human rights when they refused to allow Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) into their countries," she said.

The decision to bar the controversial cartoonist has been strongly criticized for violating human rights and also seriously hurting Taiwan's reputation for democratic reform.

Taiwan's media yesterday called the interior ministry's decision an affront to Kobayashi's freedom of speech and criticized it as reminiscent of the repression of the martial law era, when dissidents were not allowed to visit the island. Martial law ended in 1987.

Politicians tended to take the view that since most people in Taiwan are angry over the book and criticized it for distorting historical facts, the government should allow the cartoonist to visit Taiwan to hear the truth.

"The DPP has praised itself for advocating reform in the field of human rights in the past, and President Chen has also pledged to rule the country on the basis of human rights," said Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday when asked to comment on the interior ministry's decision.

"Whether to protect freedom of speech is a very important index by which to judge the standard of human rights in the country and, therefore, neither the decision [to bar the controversial cartoonist] nor to burn his comic books conforms to the principle," Lu said.

The vice president appealed to both pro- and anti-Japan groups to maintain their composure while discussing Kobayashi's book. "The people should control their political emotions and not do further damage to the state's image or reputation," Lu said.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also said that the decision to ban Kobayashi was "a U-turn for the great carriage of democracy." He called upon the government to immediately reverse its decision.