Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) yesterday denied claims that his proposed visit to Japan was politically motivated, saying he was only to receive medical examination in Japan for what he described as his "serious" heart condition.
"My application to go to Japan absolutely has no political agenda. I am no longer president. I am just an ordinary citizen. Some said my going there is politically motivated and this is absolute nonsense," Lee, 78, said yesterday afternoon.
Lee, breaking his silence on the issue since his application for a Japanese visa last week, pledged to push ahead with his visit.
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
Lee said President Chen Shui-bian (
"Here I am telling you this secret. President Chen told Yamashita that Japan-Taiwan ties could not possibly improve if Tokyo declined to give me the entry visa," Lee said.
Officials at the Presidential Office refused to confirm the meeting.
Lee also accused the Japanese government of succumbing to pressure from China, which has warned Japan against allowing Lee to visit, saying: "The guts of the Japanese government is as small as that of a mouse."
"China is fearful of me and thinks it's best to lock me [up] here in Taiwan. But I am not a president now, and I won't go there making any propaganda nor deliver any address. There is a proper time for delivering speeches, but this is not the time," he said.
Lee confirmed his application for a visa to visit Japan was made through his friend Peng Run-tzu (彭榮次), president of the Taiwan Transportation Machinery Corp (台灣輸送機械股份有限公司). "The application was filed on April 10. The Japanese government lied when it said we didn't apply," Lee said.
Seeking to dispel rumors that the seriousness of his heart ailment was exaggerated, Lee spent about 40 minutes explaining in detail his heart condition. Waving a tiny bottle of medicine called Nitrostat, Lee insisted he was suffering from a serious heart condition.
"I began taking this medicine the year before last year ... our security guard Mr Chang had the medicine, and my driver carried it, too," Lee said. "My life last year was like a nightmare."
Lee said he had been feeling tightness in his chest and labored breathing for the past two years. Although he underwent an operation on Nov. 6 to dilate narrowed arteries, he found it alarming to suffer constantly from palpitation, high blood pressure and low blood sugar levels.
Lee said he was required to receive a follow-up examination six months after his operation, and Mitsudo Kazuaki, a Japanese doctor who supervised the Taiwanese medical team which performed Lee's November operation, was the best candidate to conduct the examination. Kazuaki, currently working in Kurashiki City, Japan, produced a paper to endorse Lee's proposed medical examination at the hospital scheduled for April 24.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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