Japan yesterday confirmed it will issue a visa to former president Lee Teng-hui (
Chinese envoy to Japan Cheng Yonghua (程永華) invited reporters to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo yesterday and told them that Beijing hoped the Japanese government would reverse the decision.
Lee may seek the support of Japanese politicians and businessmen for his Taiwanese independence agenda during his stay in Japan, the Central News Agency (CNA) quoted Cheng as saying.
"The Japanese government's decision to issue a visa to Lee will definitely have a negative impact on Japan-China relations ... Beijing may consider acts of retaliation depending on how Japan responds to its request," Cheng said.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters that the Japanese government would not change its decision.
"We plan to issue a visa as scheduled," he said, without saying when.
Hosoda urged the media not to follow Lee and report on his trip, as his journey was private with no political intentions.
Tokyo had announced its decision to issue a visa to Lee last Thursday, which would allow him to travel to Japan at the end of this month. Lee filed his visa application at the Japan Interchange Association in Taipei the day after the announcement.
A spokesman for the association said in an interview yesterday that it had not yet issued a visa to Lee.
"We haven't received any instructions from our foreign ministry," he said.
The spokesman declined to answer when the visa might be issued and said he was not clear about China's warning.
"This question should be addressed to our foreign ministry in Tokyo," he said.
"Lee's trip to Japan, if successfully made, will mark an important step in the normalization of Taiwan-Japan relations," World United Formosans for Independence chairman Ng Chiau-tong (黃昭堂) said after Lee filed the application.
CNA quoted a close friend of Lee as saying that Lee will take his wife Tseng Wen-hui (曾文惠), granddaughter Lee Kun-yi (李坤儀) and daughter-in-law Chang Yue-yun (張月雲) with him.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) officials said the trip was a gauge of Taiwan-Japan relations.
Tokyo granted Lee a visa on "humanitarian grounds" in 2001 so he could receive medical treatment. This time, however, Tokyo had loosened its position and decided to allow Lee to visit for tourism purpose, the TSU officials said.
"No wonder China reacted so strongly," they added.
The agency quoted sources in Japan as saying that Lee will arrive in that country next Monday and stay for one week.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
RSS