Opposition legislators grilled Taiwan's de facto representative to Japan Lo Fu-chen (羅福全) yesterday, angry at his refusal to condemn the controversial Japanese cartoonist Yoshinori Kobayashi in public. Lo responded by saying it was up to the government to decide the handling of the issue.
"I'll abide completely by the government's decision," said Lo, who heads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, at a legislative committee meeting yesterday.
But Lo's explanation and continued refusal to condemn Kobayashi elicited some angry words from KMT Legislator Lin Hong-tsung (林宏宗).
"Have you lost your guts as a Taiwanese man? Where is the bravery you showed when you were involved in the Taiwan independence movement years ago," Lin said.
Lo said some sections in Kobayashi's controversial comic book On Taiwan (
Lo admitted that he hadn't yet read the Chinese version of the book, but did say he was surprised at all the fuss surrounding its publication.
"It never occurred to me that a comic book could cause such a tremendous impact in Taiwan," Lo said.
The book quoted presidential adviser Shi Wen-lung (許文龍) as saying Taiwan's comfort women were not forced into becoming prostitutes for the Japanese Army during World War II.
KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (陳學聖) questioned Lo's ability to do his job as Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan in light of his history with the Taiwan independence movement during the 1970s.
But Lo refuted Chen's charges, saying: "National security is the bottom line in my work as a diplomat."
Challenged by New Party Legislator Elmer Feng (
"Is it a mark against me that I was educated during Japanese colonial rule?" asked the 66-year-old when responding to Feng's charges against him as a pro-Japan civil servant.
Before taking up the post as Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Tokyo, Lo worked for the UN for several decades, retiring in April, 2000 as the Deputy Director of the Tokyo-based Institute of Advanced Studies at the United Nations University. The economist has visited China many times in his capacity as the UN's policy advisor for China's economic reforms.
Because of his support for Taiwanese independence, Lo was blacklisted and had his passport revoked until 1992, at which time the then-KMT government ended its policy of blacklisting people who it considered persona non grata.
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