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Japan cool to Lee's visa application

"It is difficult for Japan to issue him such a visa."

Yukio Takeuchi, Japan's vice foreign minister

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday applied for a visa for a trip to Tokyo later this month, although Japanese officials have already said it is unlikely the application will be approved.

Kosei Ueno, Japanese deputy chief Cabinet secretary, confirmed that Lee's application had been received and that the stated purpose of the visit was to give a speech at a student festival at Keio University.

Lee had been invited by students of the university to deliver a one-hour speech entitled "The Spirit of Japan."

But the university said there were no plans for such a speech, reports in Japan said yesterday.

"We are currently verifying the facts. What we decide will depend on that," Ueno said.

The report said that a spokesman at the university confirmed that there was no plan for Lee to give a speech at the festival, and they had heard no reports that he would give one at any other time.

Chinese reports also said last week that the speech had been canceled.

Adding to the obstacles Lee faces, Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi said yesterday that the government has no intention of issuing the visa.

"It is difficult for Japan to issue him such a visa," Takeuchi said.

Despite the reports, Alice King (金美齡), a national policy adviser who has been arranging the trip, told TSU lawmakers on Sunday that she believed the chances were high that Lee would be able to make the trip.

King said that professors at the university had pressured the students into cancelling the speech but that she thought the students would go through with the plan.

TSU Legislator Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) said the school's Web site has started to circulate news about Lee's visit and encouraged those who are interested to register for the event.

Lee plans to depart for Tokyo on Nov. 23 and was scheduled to give the speech the following day.

News of the trip has caused controversy in Japanese political circles, with pro-China officials worrying that it would strain Sino-Japanese relations.

Lee's trips to Japan have always been a sensitive issue and drawn scorn from China, which says Lee had sought to break Taiwan's diplomatic isolation during his 12 years in power. Beijing has warned Japan not to allow Lee to visit.

In April last year, Lee went to Japan for treatment for a heart ailment at a hospital near Osaka.

But the trip divided Japanese officials and his visa wasn't issued until the last minute after Lee mocked the nation by saying that "the guts of the Japanese government are as small as those of a mouse."

The decision to admit Lee infuriated Beijing and caused Li Peng (李鵬), head of China's National People's Congress, to postpone a planned visit.

A TSU lawmaker, who declined to be identified, told the Taipei Times that Lee was optimistic about making the trip.

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