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Lee wants to visit Japan for follow-up to surgery

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) plans to visit Japan next month for a follow-up checkup on his April heart surgery, a move which will certainly anger China, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.

The paper, in a report from Tokyo, said Lee announced his plan in a videotaped speech shown at a gathering held by Japanese cartoonist Kabayashi Yoshinori.

In his speech, Lee said he will receive a checkup at the Kurashiki Central Hospital in Kurashiki city in western Japan.

Lee underwent balloon angioplasty at the hospital on April 24 to widen clogged heart arteries.

"I will also take the opportunity to travel through Japan's northeast to experience the feelings of Japanese poet Matsuo Basho," he said on the tape.

Matsuo Basho, who lived from 1644 to 1694, travelled in Japan's northeast for five years. He claimed he found the meaning of life on the trip.

It is not clear if Lee has obtained an entry visa from Japan or how long he plans to stay.

He made a stopover in Japan in 1985 as vice president.

From 1985 until his retirement last year, Lee tried to visit Japan to strengthen unofficial ties, but China barred Japan from issuing him an entry visa.

Lee's April visit for his medical treatment drew strong protest from China.

After the incident, Japanese Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka assured Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (唐家璇) that Japan would not issue any more visas to Lee.
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