President Chen Shui-bian (
"Former president Lee is a private citizen and has the freedom to travel," Chen told a visiting Japanese lawmaker yesterday morning.
Japan's Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Yano told a press conference yesterday morning in Tokyo that if Lee were to reapply for a visa, "at this stage the foreign ministry would find it difficult to admit him."
Yano's remark came a day after Katsuhisa Uchida, chief representative at the Taipei Office of the Interchange Association, Tokyo's de facto embassy in Taiwan, sent a similar message to Lee, according to a close aide to the former president.
"Uchida urged Lee to give up his plan to visit Japan and to defer his journey to a later date," the aide, who wished to remain to anonymous, told the Taipei Times.
"They are fearful of China," the aide said. "In view of the remark by Yano plus the message Uchida delivered the previous day, there is little chance that we can turn this matter around."
Lee had applied for a Japanese visa on Monday in order to make a speech at Tokyo's Keio University later this month. But he withdrew the application the next day after the university said the talk was not going ahead.
Although Lee decided on Tuesday evening to re-apply for a visa after the student organizers in the university decided to host the talk in a Tokyo hotel, the decision was put on hold following Uchida's visit on Wednesday morning, the aide said.
Lee, who retired in 2000 after 12 years in office, made his last trip to Japan in April last year for a medical checkup, triggering protests from Beijing.
Chen and a visiting Japanese opposition lawmaker yesterday voiced their support for Lee.
Chen told Naoto Kan, a member of the lower house of the Japanese Diet, yesterday morning that Lee was just a private citizen and should be allowed to travel freely.
"[The decision] should not be influenced by politics," Chen added.
Kan, a former chairman of the Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition party, said the Japanese government could follow the formula set by the US in issuing visas to Taiwan's political figures to allow Lee to make the visit.
The US issued Lee a tourist visa in April of last year, setting no restrictions on his activities in the US. The US State Department at the time said the visa was granted because Lee, despite being a former head of state, was a private citizen.
Pro-Lee Japanese legislators have decided to protest the Japanese foreign ministry's apparent refusal to grant a visa to Lee, a Tokyo-based source told the Taipei Times.
"But now that the senior foreign ministry official has made it clear that it's unlikely Lee will get a visa even he re-applies, it's almost impossible for the ministry to change its mind even under pressure from pro-Lee forces in Japan," the source said.
But a foreign ministry official in Taipei said that it was too early to pronounce the matter dead, adding that public opinion in Japan could force the foreign ministry to think again.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
RSS