Divisions within the government of Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori deepened over whether to issue an entry visa to former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, with five Cabinet ministers urging the reluctant Foreign Ministry for a quick decision to issue the visa.
The pressure from the Cabinet members on Friday came the same day as a group of some 70 Diet members from across party lines urged Foreign Minister Yohei Kono to issue the visa.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda, who officially states that a visa application has not been filed by Lee, tried to keep the dissenters under wraps, urging the ministers not to air their views to the press, government sources said.