OSAKA -- Former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui arrived in Japan on Sunday evening for a five-day stay to have a medical checkup, a visit that China says will be met with a "necessary reaction."
Lee, accompanied by well over a dozen people including his wife Tseng Wen-hui, close aides and a doctor, left Taipei's international airport for Osaka, where the former president will stay while in Japan.
Upon his arrival at Osaka airport, he waved to the media, saying in Japanese, "Thank you very much." Lee was met by about 300 cheering well-wishers waving Taiwanese and Japanese flags. He was also treated as a VIP by airport staff, who bypassed normal routes in whisking the 78-year-old former president through immigration and customs formalities.