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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Ma demands apology from Lee Teng-hui
/ Staff writer, with CNA
In a rare rebuke of one of his predecessors, President Ma Ying-jeou （馬英九） yesterday demanded an apology from former president Lee Teng-hui （李登輝） for claiming that the Diaoyutai Islands （釣魚台） belong to Japan instead of the Republic of China （ROC）.
In a letter to Taiwan’s Chinese-language China Times, Ma said that Lee should retract his “serious misstatement” on the islands in the East China Sea, which he made during a trip to Japan last month, and apologize to the nation.
Lee’s comments “went against historic facts, the ROC Constitution and international law, hurt our people’s feelings and caused serious damage to our national sovereignty and Taiwan’s status as an entity,” Ma said in the letter.
It was Ma’s first public reaction to remarks Lee made during a news conference in Tokyo on July 23.
Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen （陳以信） yesterday said that Lee, who served as ROC president for 12 years, should have a very deep understanding of the nation’s direction in national policy and public opinion, adding that Ma, as the incumbent head of state, must come forward and stand against Lee’s remarks.
Without naming Lee, Chen on July 24 said that “any self-denial of the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai Islands would bring shame to the country and forfeit its sovereignty.”
In response to Ma’s rebuttal, Lee’s office director Wang Yan-chun （王燕軍） asked Ma to “read more books.”
Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ting-fei （陳亭妃） said Ma is just attempting to shift public focus away from ongoing curriculum protests.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
