Former president Lee Teng-hui (
The former president is scheduled to depart for Tokyo on Nov. 23 where he will be a guest speaker for Keio University, one of the nation's most prestigious schools, on the following day.
Lee is expected to deliver a one-hour speech entitled "the Spirit of Japan."
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
Appearing at TSU headquarters yesterday to stump for the party's city councilor candidates, Lee told reporters he had not yet applied for a visa. He said he hoped the media would not exaggerate the importance of his trip because too many reports might hinder his plan.
"I will file my visa application when you [the reporters] are quiet," he said.
Lee's trips to Japan have always been a sensitive issue as China scorns Lee for trying to break Taiwan's diplomatic isolation during his 12 years in power. Beijing has warned Japan not to allow Lee to visit.
In April of last year, Lee was in Japan to undergo medial treatment for a heart ailment.
But his trip divided Japanese officials and his visa was not issued until the last minute after Lee mocked the nation by saying that "the guts of the Japanese government are as small as that of a mouse."
But TSU officials are optimistic about Lee's forthcoming trip later this month.
Chen Horng-chi (
Chen, the newly-appointed director for the TSU's organization department, said several Japanese congressmen and public opinion in Japan are supportive of Lee's trip.
Chen said he had questioned the Japanese Interchange Association in Taipei, whose officials said that Lee's visits to Japan always touch a political nerve.
The new TSU director noted that to express their sincerity, three Japanese students from Keio University had come to Taiwan last month to extend their invitation to the former president in person. The former president was said to be deeply moved by their sincerity.
Lee's trip has been arranged by Tokyo-based national policy adviser Alice King (金美齡).
King said last month, when she was in Taipei, that Lee would probably be allowed to visit Japan because the Japanese public is highly supportive of his visits.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods