China strongly demanded Japan immediately repeal its decision to issue a visa to former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui, warning that if Tokyo allows the visit it will harm bilateral relations.

"Lee Teng-hui is a symbol of aggressive forces of 'Taiwan independence'," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao at a regular media briefing.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told the press Thursday that Tokyo would issue a travel visa to Lee early Thursday.

Hosoda said the visit by Lee and his family was not a political event but for sightseeing, which would not impair Sino-Japanese relations.

Hosoda also reiterated that Japan does not support "Taiwan independence", adding that Japan would continue to abide by the one-China policy.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi also confirmed Hosoda's sentiments at a press conference, stressing that Japan would continue to attach importance to Sino-Japanese relations.

Liu, however, said the visit would by no means be "private."

The purpose of visiting Japan is to seek backing for "Taiwan independence" and create external conditions for speeding up his "independence activities," he said. "Japan's agreeing to allow him (Lee) to visit is itself a challenge to China's unification efforts and is a type of support for and indulgence of Taiwan's 'independence forces'."

China's Ambassador to Japan Wang Yi also lodged a protest Thursday against Japan's intention to issue a visa to Lee Teng-hui, a leading advocate of independence for Taiwan.

Calling for a meeting with Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Yukio Takeuchi to discuss the issue, Wang said Lee is a leading "Taiwan independence" seeker undermining both relations across the Taiwan Strait and regional stability.

Wang said China does not accept Japan's claim to support the one-China policy on one hand, while appearing to sanction Taiwan separatism on the other.

He said it was an unacceptable decision and China strongly opposed it.

Wang said effort from both China and Japan are needed to improve bilateral relations between the two and that if Japan remains intractable on the issue, it will bear its own consequences.

Lee, leader of the Taiwan authority from 1988 to 2000, last visited Japan in 2001. Then Japan's Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka openly admitted that Lee's visit was not merely a personal or humanitarian issue, adding the fact Taiwan's so-called "foreign ministry" negotiated with the Japanese Government on the issue revealed its political nature.

Lee always tried to raise Taiwan's "international profile" during his 12 years as the leader of the island, and went further and further on the way towards "Taiwan independence."

In 1999, before he stepped down, he redefined the island's ties with the mainland as special "state-to-state" relations.

Asia-based observers believed the Japanese Government's decision to give Lee a visa would encourage "Taiwan independence" elements.

The Japanese Government claims Lee has promised he will not engage in political activities during his stay in Japan, but Lee's success in applying to visit Japan itself is widely seen as a political action.

'Comfort women'

Commenting on the Tokyo High Court's rejection to a demand for damages from four former Chinese "comfort women" of the Japanese army during the World War II, Liu said that Japan should "properly" handle the cases left over from history, including the issue of comfort women, "in a responsible manner."

Liu said the forced conscription of "comfort women" is one of the serious and grave crimes committed by Japanese militarists during World War II against victimized countries, including China.

On Wednesday, the high court said the government was not responsible for compensation for any acts committed by state authorities under the previous Japanese constitution which expired after the war and rejected demands for compensation.

According to historians, at least 200,000 Chinese and other Asian women were forced to serve as sexual slaves by Japanese forces.

By People's Daily Online