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Lee's shrine visit angers KMT duo

Former president Lee Teng-hui explains the meaning of his haiku poem while standing in front of a statue of the 17th-century haiku poet Basho Matsuo at the Basho Museum in Tokyo yesterday. PHOTO: AFP

Former president Lee Tung-hui's (李登輝) planned visit to the Yasukuni shrine drew the ire of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday while the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) defended Lee, saying the visit had nothing to do with politics but only his feelings for his elder brother.

Lee, who arrived in Japan on Wednesday for a 10-day visit, said that he would like to visit the shrine where his elder brother is enshrined.

Lee's elder brother served in the Japanese navy during World War II and died while on duty in February 1945 in the Philippines.

KMT lawmakers Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) and Joanna Lei (雷倩) called a press conference yesterday morning to condemn Lee's planned visit, calling Lee a "liar" for saying he wished to honor his deceased brother.

They said the spirit of Lee's elder brother had been brought back to Taiwan about 20 years ago and put in Chihua Temple (濟化宮), Peipu Township (北埔), Hsinchu County.

They showed a picture of a tablet bearing the Japanese name of Lee's brother, his date of birth and pointed to the name of Lee's father, Lee Ching-long (李金龍), as evidence.

"There is no tablet, remains or any spirit of his brother at Yasukuni. There is only an enshrinement list there. The spirits of [Taiwanese] soldiers enshrined at Yasukuni were all relocated to the Chihua temple. I don't know what Lee is going to honor." Hung said.

Hung said she suspected that Lee's planned visit to the shrine was aimed at infuriating China.

Rebutting Hung and Lei's claim, TSU Secretary-General Chien Cheng-shan (錢橙山) told a press conference yesterday afternoon that "Lee's visit to the shrine has nothing to do with politics, it merely shows his love for his deceased brother."

"It's already very tragic that Taiwanese had to die for the Japanese," Chien said. "Those who are unfamiliar with Taiwanese history should not manipulate this incident and harm the feelings of Taiwanese."

Responding to Hung's claim about the spirit of Lee's elder brother, Chien said "the [Chihua] temple is only a private memorial to those who died during the war."

"According to Taiwanese custom, there's a religious ritual to call the spirits home and this was never performed," he said, adding that the Yasukuni shrine is the only place that could connect Lee to his deceased brother.

Asked by reporters yesterday about his plans to visit the shrine, Lee said "no date has been set."

"If you were me, would you want to visit your elder brother?" Lee asked.

Association of East Asian Relations secretary-general Huang Ju-hou (黃諸侯) said at a separate conference yesterday that Lee's visit to Japan was a personal trip and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to which the association is affiliated, respected Lee's decision to pray for his elder brother.

"Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said that praying at the shrine is Lee's freedom of faith and the foreign ministry of Taiwan will certainly respect Lee's personal decision," Huang said.

Huang said he did not think that Lee's visit to the shrine would affect Taiwan-Japan or cross-strait relations.

"If there are any political repercussions, it would only result from China's unreasonable objections," he said.

Huang said the ministries of foreign affairs of Taiwan and Japan were not involved in the arrangement of Lee's trip and Lee also declined the offer of Taiwan's representative to Japan Koh Se-kai (許世楷) to receive him at the airport.

It showed that Lee did not want his journey to be tainted with a political hue, Huang said.
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