Taiwan separatist Lee Teng-hui visits Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine

Former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwan separatist, visited Tokyo's Yasukuni war shrine on Thursday with the excuse of paying homage to his brother enshrined there with Japanese war criminals of World War II.

Accompanied by his wife, Lee arrived at the war shrine at 10:00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) and his pilgrimage took about 40 minutes.

Lee's elder brother Lee Teng-chin, who fought for the Japanese militarism during World War II, died in February 1945 in the Philippines and was then enshrined at Yasukuni.

The Yasukuni shrine, established in 1869 under Emperor Meiji, honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 class-A war criminals responsible for some of the worst atrocities during Japan's war of aggression against its Asian neighbors during World War II. It still serves as a tool for Japan's rightists to distort history.

Analysts said the visit exposed Lee's ugly face as a separatist favoring "Taiwan Independence."

In 2001, Lee met with strong criticism when he jumped out to voice support for a Japanese leader to visit the notorious shrine and was deemed as a national scum who was brainwashed by the Japanese militarism.

Source: Xinhua