With tensions rising again across the Taiwan Strait, some in Japan seem to think that it might be timely for former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui to visit controversial Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial in Tokyo to Japan's war dead.
That would, they hope, send a message to Beijing that Japan stands with democratic Taiwan at a time when Beijing is ramping up its efforts to intimidate and bribe the recalcitrant island into submission. But such a provocative move by Lee would likely backfire. Indeed, those promoting this visit could fall victim to a classic Chinese ploy.
On April 4, members of Lee's Taiwan Solidarity Union visited Yasukuni. (The TSU is a coalition partner of President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party). Some 28,000 Taiwanese, conscripted to fight for Imperial Japan, are enshrined there (as well as 21,000 Koreans.) Among the Taiwanese dead is Lee's elder brother.