4TH LD: Japan to issue visa for Taiwan's Lee, China protests

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Dec 20, 2004

TOKYO, Dec. 16 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING KOIZUMI'S EVENING QUOTES AND MOVES IN BEIJING)

Japan's top government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda said Thursday that Tokyo will issue an entry visa for former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui later this month, drawing protests from China which called on Japan to reconsider the decision.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda told a press conference the government made the decision because Lee is ''completely a private citizen now,'' indicating Japan understands the visit is a family sightseeing trip.

Lee retired from office in May 2000.

China, which regards the island as a renegade province, sees Lee as the main figure behind the independence movement in Taiwan and has threatened to attack Taiwan if Taipei declares independence.

On Thursday afternoon, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi conveyed Beijing's dissatisfaction over the matter to Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi.

In Beijing later Thursday, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei summoned Japanese Ambassador to China Koreshige Anami to formally request that Japan withdraw its decision to issue an entry visa to Lee, the Japanese Embassy said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi initially said, ''We have no reason to reject'' Lee's visa application.

But later in the day, the prime minister appeared a bit more cautious about the issue, apparently heeding Beijing's strong reactions.

''We've just said we would consider it (the visa issuance) if the application is made,'' he told reporters later in the day.

The premier apparently believes the decision will do no significant harm to relations between Japan and China.

''We must deal with the issue by giving priority to Japan-China friendship'' while respecting China's position, Koizumi said.

Hosoda said Japan does not support Taiwan's independence. Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura also said in a news conference there is no change in Japan's advocating a one-China policy.

Lee and his family are expected to arrive in Nagoya on Dec. 27, visit cities such as Kanazawa and Kyoto, and leave for home on Dec. 31, sources familiar with Japan-Taiwan ties said.

Lee, 81, would be allowed to visit Japan for the first time since April 2001, when he came for heart treatment at a hospital in Okayama Prefecture.

Wang told Kyodo News after the meeting with the vice Japanese foreign minister that Japan and China are now at a sensitive stage in relations and China cannot help thinking that Japan has no intention of improving bilateral ties if it ''moves ahead with this.''

Wang said he told Takeuchi the decision is ''unacceptable'' and called on Japan to review the plan.

''Lee is not a retired old man. He is a leading figure who is trying to split China, and Japan's acceptance of his entry will contradict its support for the 'one-China' policy,'' Wang said.

Bilateral ties between Japan and China are strained due largely to Koizumi's repeated visits to the war-related Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo. Other Asian countries recognize the shrine as symbolic of Japanese militarism, and regard the visits as insensitive because convicted war criminals are enshrined there along with Japan's war dead.

Lee had expressed his intention to visit Japan as a tourist in September, with a plan to retrace the route described by haiku master Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) in the haiku collection ''Oku no hosomichi'' (The Narrow Road to the Deep North) about his travels in northeastern Japan, the sources said.

The Japanese government did not issue him a visa earlier because of the approaching legislative election in Taiwan, held last Saturday, they said.

In November 2002, Lee gave up a plan to speak at Keio University in Tokyo as Japan refused him a visa due to concerns about China's reaction.

Senior lawmakers of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party have urged the government to grant Lee a visa, saying he is a private citizen who left public life a long time ago and is eligible to visit Japan as a tourist.

Lee last visited Japan for five days in April 2001 for heart treatment. He was granted a visa on condition that he would engage in no political activity during his stay.