Just being here has caused a political stir, but former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui upped the ante Thursday by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine to offer a prayer for his brother, who died while fighting for Japan in World War II.
China, which reviles Lee as a leader of the Taiwan independence movement, quickly blasted what Lee described as private visit to Yasukuni while criticizing Tokyo for allowing his entry into Japan.
"We can see what he has in mind by watching his activities in Japan," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing, suggesting Lee's shrine visit is an attempt to gain support from Japanese conservatives for Taiwan's independence movement.