A government official on Friday criticized the Foreign Ministry for refusing to issue a visa to allow former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to visit Japan.
Kenzo Yoneda, a senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office and a Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives, complained during a Diet committee session that the Foreign Ministry had informed Lee through his agent Wednesday that it would not authorize a visa for him.
"In general, it is a self-evident truth that a former president who is now a private citizen is not a terrorist or a criminal," Yoneda said at a morning session of the House of Representatives Cabinet Committee.