The Japan Interchange Association in Taipei yesterday confirmed it has issued a visa to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). The visa will allow Lee to make a single entry into Japan for a maximum stay of 15 days, the same as other tourists from Taiwan, a spokesman said.
China, riled by Japan's decision to issue Lee a visa despite its protests, warned yesterday that the move might damage relations.
"The Japanese government acted in disregard of the Chinese government's solemn representation and firm opposition and stubbornly allowed Lee Teng-hui to go to Japan to carry out activities to split the country," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said at a news briefing.
"The Chinese government ex-presses strong dissatisfaction and again demands the Japanese side rectify this wrong decision," he said.
Liu declined to say whether Beijing would retaliate against Japan. Chinese envoy to Japan Cheng Yonghua (
Liu said Japan's decision to issue the visa was "a very significant incident in China-Japan relations."
"I want to emphasize that the Japanese side should learn from past experience and adopt a correct attitude and rectify its wrong decision in order not to impair overall relations between China and Japan," he said.
Liu said the political motivations of Lee's visit were obvious.
"His political motive is to find backing and create overseas conditions for his activities to split the country. We think the Japanese side should be clear about this," he added.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told reporters yesterday that Lee wants to travel as a private citizen, so there is no reason to turn down his application.
"[Lee] also graduated from a Japanese university," Koizumi said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed Japan's decision.
"The ministry and our representative office in Japan will offer necessary help for former president Lee," spokesman Michel Lu (
A friend close to Lee yesterday said that apart from family members and doctors, Lee will also bring two "VIP guests" to Japan. Lee's friend declined to reveal their identities.
Lee will fly to Japan on Monday and visit his alma mater, Kyoto University, during his stay.
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: MOFA demanded Beijing stop its military intimidation and ‘irrational behavior’ that endanger peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region The Presidential Office yesterday called on China to stop all “provocative acts,” saying ongoing Chinese military activity in the nearby waters of Taiwan was a “blatant disruption” of the “status quo” of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Defense officials said they have detected Chinese ships since Monday, both off Taiwan and farther out along the first island chain. They described the formations as two walls designed to demonstrate that the waters belong to China. The Ministry of National Defense yesterday said it had detected 53 military aircraft operating around the nation over the past 24 hours, as well
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS