Japan's decision on Lee visa sparks protests
(Cri/Xinhua/Agencies)
Updated: 2004-12-21 10:40

China has protested to Japan over its decision to let former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui visit the country and urged Tokyo to scrap the plan.

In Beijing on Monday, about 45 Chinese demonstrators, shouting slogans and carrying banners, gathered outside the Japanese embassy to protest over Lee's visit.

Zhang Jianyong, one of the protesters, read a statement denouncing Japan's decision and its militarist past.

"The plan of the Japanese government to issue a visa again to Lee Teng-hui, who is a Taiwan separatist, is another rude interference in the internal affairs of China and a concrete action of brazenly supporting the Taiwan independence activities."

Protesters also decried Japan's World War II history and said it was evidence Japan could never be considered "a normal country".

On Monday, Japan said it would issue a visa as scheduled for Lee Teng-hui to visit for sightseeing despite vigorous protests from China.

Japan said that the 81-year-old Lee would visit only as a tourist and private citizen.

He last came to Japan in 2001 for medical treatment, triggering an angry response from Beijing.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have already been chilled by a string of disputes, including one over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's regular visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honored along with other Japanese war dead.

Many Chinese remain extremely bitter about Japan's wartime invasion of China.

Taiwan was a Japanese colony for half a century until Japan surrendered at the end of the second world war in 1945.

Japan to Give Taiwan's Lee Visa

Japan said Monday it would issue a visa as scheduled for former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui to visit for sightseeing despite angry protests from China.

Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have already been chilled by a string of disputes, including one over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's regular visits to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where war criminals are honored with other Japanese war dead.

"We plan to issue a visa as scheduled," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told reporters. He did not say when the outspoken Lee would receive his visa.

Beijing has protested to Japan over its decision to let Lee visit and urged Tokyo to scrap the plan.

Lee, 81, and his family are expected to arrive in Nagoya in central Japan on Dec. 27 and visit hot springs before leaving for home on Dec. 31, Japanese media said.

Hosoda urged media not to follow Lee and report on his trip as the visit was "private" with no political intentions.

A Chinese diplomat urged Tokyo Monday to reverse its visa decision.

"It is certain that it (the visa issuance) will have a negative effect on Japan-China ties," Cheng Yonghua, minister at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, told reporters.

Kyodo news agency quoted Cheng as saying that Lee's planned visit, if it took place, would become a "new dispute" between the two Asian rivals.

"Next year, which marks the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, is an important and sensitive year to look into the future of Japan-China ties," he was quoted as saying.

Lee tried to raise Taiwan's diplomatic profile during his 12 years as leader, redefining its ties with the mainland in 1999 as "special state-to-state" relations.

Lee stepped down in 2000. He last came to Japan in 2001 for medical treatment, triggering an angry response from Beijing.

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