The Ministry of the Interior (
After conducting an overall review of the blacklist of 659 foreigners banned from entering the country, the ministry decided that if Kobayashi applies for a visa, he may enter Taiwan.
Chien Tai-lang (
Likewise, the two other foreigners who were originally blacklisted under Article 17 of the Immigration Law (入出國及移民法) may also enter.
The ministry barred the controversial cartoonist from Tai-wan earlier this month, saying that statements made in his best-selling comic book On Taiwan (
In the comic, Kobayashi claimed that Taiwanese women were not forced into sexual slavery during World War II but instead volunteered to work as "comfort women" (
He also interviewed and quoted some Taiwanese business and political leaders known to be sympathetic to Japan, such as former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and the presidential advisor Shi Wen-lung (許文龍).
The comic book enraged many people in Taiwan. Law-makers and women's groups have urged bookstores not to sell it, but it has become a best-seller.
After the interior ministry announced its ban on Kobayashi, it was criticized by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who stressed that as a democracy Taiwan should not block visitors.
Chen said that if Taiwan did so, it would be no different from China.
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