By Zhao Wei, Sina English
According to a report released by a Taiwan media outlet, despite the flare-up over Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, Lee Teng-hui , notorious former leader of Taiwan and now bashed by the Taiwanese for his corruption scandal, told a Japanese writer Agawa Sawako on a literature magazine that “Diaoyu Islands always belong to Japan”. He said that he spoke so when he was the Taiwan leader.
Lee said that he made the above comments based on his understanding of the history of Taiwan and Japan.
However, Lee didn’t repeat his raving that “the Diaoyu Islands belong to Japan” when facing the press yesterday. Instead, he said the “purchase” of Diaoyu Islands was “none of his business”.
Lee has been poured scorn upon by the Chinese from across the Taiwan Straits for his “apple-polishing” Japan in manner and rhetoric.