Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) wants to visit Japan for a literary tour in May, a newspaper reported yesterday, and Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the government would decide appropriately on whether to admit him.
Japan in September began a permanent visa waiver program for Taiwanese tourists visiting for up to 90 days to promote tourism and other exchanges.
But Japanese government officials have not clarified whether the program automatically covers visits by Taiwanese politicians.
The daily Yomiuri newspaper said Lee, a leading advocate of Taiwanese independence, might visit Japan for two or three weeks from May 10 at the invitation of private groups.
Abe told a regular news conference that Lee had not applied for a visa, but added: "We would deal with a visit by former president Lee or other prominent figures from Taiwan appropriately in line with our basic policy toward Taiwan."
Lee wants to travel to Japan this year but the timing must be worked out with Japanese authorities, said Lo Chih-ming (羅志明), secretary-general of the Taiwan Solidarity Union, the party founded by Lee's supporters.
"Former president Lee has plans to visit Japan, and he would like to go to Tokyo because he hasn't traveled there before," Lo said.
Japan has in the past granted tourist visas to Lee, infuriating China every time. Beijing reviles Lee and accuses him of actively seeking independence.
Lee last visited in 2004 when he made a weeklong trip to Kanazawa, Nagoya and Kyoto in western Japan. The visit sparked furious protests from Beijing, which accused Tokyo of supporting Taiwan independence.
The Yomiuri said that Japan would decide whether to issue Lee a tourist visa after confirming if he would refrain from political activities.
The paper said Lee, who studied in Japan during World War II, wanted to follow the path of a journey made by 17th century Japanese haiku poet Matsuo Basho.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS