Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday confirmed that he would visit Japan next month, health permitting, and said that an all-out war waged by North Korea was unlikely.
Kyodo news agency reported yesterday that Lee, 90, would travel to Japan and deliver speeches in Tokyo and Zama City, Kanagawa Prefecture.
Lee addressed a wide range of issues, including the possibility of a trip to Japan, the North Korean situation and political parties’ cross-strait policies, in a 20-minute media interview in Nanliao (南寮) on the first day of a two-day visit to Hsinchu County.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
When asked about a visit to Japan, Lee said it would depend on the result of a medical checkup later this month.
Lee has a chronic heart problem, metabolic arthritis and recently suffered a bout of the flu. If he makes the trip, it would be his sixth visit to Japan since leaving office in 2000, but his first since 2009.
Turning to the recent tensions in Northeast Asia, Lee said anyone who wants to wage a war, in this case North Korea, was not likely to resort to taunts and rhetoric.
Citing the Taiwan Strait crisis of 1996 during his presidency, Lee said that China had not alerted Taiwan prior to launching missiles. He added that North Korea could have hidden agenda behind its threats.
Lee laughed off a report this week by Control Yuan members Chou Yang-shan (周陽山) and Lee Ping-nan (李炳南) that quoted Shih Hsin University adjunct assistant professor Chi Chia-lin (戚嘉林) as saying that Lee was the illegitimate son of a Japanese father.
The accusation was false and those who made it up had a hidden motive, he said.
“I pray to God to forgive their sins and stupidity. Taiwan’s future is more important to me than things like this,” said Lee, a Christian.
Asked if the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party should seek a consensus on their policies toward China, Lee said they may not be able to find common ground, but they “should at least maintain a healthy relationship with each other.”
“Taiwan is Taiwan, China is China,” he said, adding that the most important tasks now are improving people’s livelihoods, and boosting employment and economic growth.
The KMT administration depends on Beijing’s assistance and favor in almost everything, which the DPP finds very hard to accept or emulate, Lee said.
With regards to Washington’s role in cross-strait relations, Lee said the US has always taken positions that serve its own interests and has always adjusted its policy according to the situation.
Lee visited Nanliao Harbor in the afternoon before delivering a speech, titled “Taiwanese in a new age,” at National Chiao Tung University.
Taipei has once again made it to the top 100 in Oxford Economics’ Global Cities Index 2025 report, moving up five places from last year to 60. The annual index, which was published last month, evaluated 1,000 of the most populated metropolises based on five indices — economics, human capital, quality of life, environment and governance. New York maintained its top spot this year, placing first in the economics index thanks to the strength of its vibrant financial industry and economic stability. Taipei ranked 263rd in economics, 44th in human capital, 15th in quality of life, 284th for environment and 75th in governance,
A former officer in China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) who witnessed the aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has warned that Taiwan could face a similar fate if China attempts to unify the country by force. Li Xiaoming (李曉明), who was deployed to Beijing as a junior officer during the crackdown, said Taiwanese people should study the massacre carefully, because it offers a glimpse of what Beijing is willing to do to suppress dissent. “What happened in Tiananmen Square could happen in Taiwan too,” Li told CNA in a May 22 interview, ahead of the massacre’s 36th anniversary. “If Taiwanese students or
Greenpeace yesterday said that it is to appeal a decision last month by the Taipei High Administrative Court to dismiss its 2021 lawsuit against the Ministry of Economic Affairs over “loose” regulations governing major corporate electricity consumers. The climate-related lawsuit — the first of its kind in Taiwan — sought to require the government to enforce higher green energy thresholds on major corporations to reduce emissions in light of climate change and an uptick in extreme weather. The suit, filed by Greenpeace East Asia, the Environmental Jurists Association and four individual plaintiffs, was dismissed on May 8 following four years of litigation. The
The New Taipei City Government would assist relatives of those killed or injured in last month’s car-ramming incident in Sansia District (三峽) to secure compensation, Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said yesterday, two days after the driver died in a hospital. “The city government will do its best to help the relatives of the car crash incident seek compensation,” Hou said. The mayor also said that the city’s Legal Affairs, Education and Social Welfare departments have established a joint mechanism to “provide coordinated assistance” to victims and their families. Three people were killed and 12 injured when a car plowed into schoolchildren and their
RSS