Lee to reapply for visa to Japan after speech confusion

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) decided yesterday evening to re-apply for a Japanese visa after withdrawing his original application earlier in the day, an aide said last night.

"We decided that the speech will still be held. I will make another visa application tomorrow [Wednesday] afternoon," Chung Chen-hung (鍾振宏), an adviser at the Taiwan Research Institute, told the Taipei Times yesterday.

"The purpose of the visit will be re-stated to focus largely on sightseeing and less on the planned speech," said Chung, who served as deputy representative to Japan from 1989 to 1993.

Chung made the remark after meeting with the former president at his residence in Taoyuan County yesterday evening to discuss Lee's proposed visit to Tokyo later this month.

Chung applied for a visa on behalf of Lee on Monday at the Taipei Office of the Interchange Association -- Tokyo's de facto embassy in Taiwan.

Lee was planning to give a talk at Keio University on Nov. 24, having been invited by a university student club.

However, when consulted by the Japanese foreign ministry on Monday, the university said that the speech was not going ahead.

Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi said on Monday that Tokyo had no intention of issuing the visa.

The former president, a staunch pro-independence activist since he stepped down in 2000, visited Japan in April last year for medical treatment, prompting Beijing to cancel visits to Japan by high-ranking officials.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) said yesterday that Beijing opposed Lee visiting for any reason any of China's diplomatic allies.

Chung confirmed that he "fetched back" the original application around noon yesterday since Keio University had not allowed the originally planned talk by Lee to take place in the university campus for fear of antagonizing China.

The solution was for the students to arrange for Lee to give his talk outside the university campus, Chung said.

"The students didn't want to give it up ... They asked us today if we still planned to go to Japan. If the answer is `yes,' they would book a venue for the talk soon," Chung said.

Chung also said he promised to give the students a final reply today.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan -- Taiwan's de facto embassy in Tokyo -- has maintained close contacts with Lee's office with regard to his proposed visit to Japan, a government source told the Taipei Times.

"The opposition forces [against Lee's visit] within Japan's foreign ministry are still causing trouble, while some professors in Keio University have stood against Lee's visit, saying his presence in the university may hamper their future academic work in China," the source said.

Some China experts in Keio University even passed a letter to Lee more than a month ago suggesting he not give the speech since the seniority of the organizers was "too low," the official said.

"Lee was infuriated by the letter, saying he would not want to meet with these Japanese scholars next time they visit Taiwan," the official said.