Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (
Responding to legislator questioning at a routine interpellation session, Chang said that although Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi's (小林善) controversial comic book On Taiwan (
In the comic book, Kobayashi quoted senior presidential policy adviser Shi Wen-lung (
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Kobayashi also claimed that some of Taiwan's indigenous people willingly joined the Japanese army.
The ban, which the ministry earlier said it would re-evaluate, drew strong criticisms from one of President Chen Shui-bian's (
King was banned from entering Taiwan for three decades during the era of martial law, which did not come to an end until 1987.
Meanwhile, at another legislative session earlier in the day, opposition legislators demanded the dismissal of the two presidential advisers.
KMT lawmaker, Chen Ching-pao (
Lawmaker's were particularly incensed after King -- a longstanding supporter of Taiwan's independence -- said on a television talk show that she does not recognize the Republic of China.
Daring President Chen to step into the fray, Chen said the president should step forward to "say something" instead of "hiding in the Presidential Office" while his advisers "shame the whole nation."
Pro-China People First Party lawmaker Chin Huei-chu (秦慧珠) said that if King continues to say she is not an ROC citizen and does not recognize the Republic of China, then the president and the premier should not simply sit by while she "tramples all over the Republic of China," but should instead dismiss her from her post.
Meanwhile, a 30-member delegation of the radical Taiwan Independence Party staged a peaceful protest in front of the Ministry of the Interior to denounce its decision to ban Kobayashi from entry into Taiwan.
They said that Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
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