A Taiwanese lawmaker who has made regular trips to Japan to protest the inclusion of the names of Taiwanese military conscripts at a Japanese shrine could face a police investigation should she return, according to dpa. Taiwan's China Post newspaper reported Friday that Japanese police have filed investigation papers for Kao Chin Su-Mei related to an August 11, 2009 incident in which she and her backers allegedly assaulted employees at the Yasukini Shrine and were disrespectful to a place of worship. Kao Chin tried to "storm into the shrine" to insist that Japan remove the name tablets of thousands of Taiwanese who died while serving in the Japanese imperial army during World War II, the newspaper said. The accusations were made Thursday. Japan's de facto embassy in Taipei was aware of the case against Kao Chin but had no details, a spokesman said. Police in Tokyo declined comment. During Japan's colonization of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945, it conscripted island natives to fight on its side in the South Pacific. Their interment in Yasukuni, a Shinto monument in Tokyo, is controversial, since many Taiwanese feel they were forced to fight against their will. Yasukini itself is controversial, since a number of the 2.5 million war dead interred there are Class A war criminals who received that designation for atrocities committed during the Japanese occupation of the region in the early 20th century. "We don't know why Japan is doing this now," Kao Chin's legislative aide Lin I-chun said on Friday. "It's from two years ago. Maybe they're just afraid she will go back to protest again." The lawmaker, a 45-year-old former actress, has gone to Japan more than 10 times since 2002 to protest the issue. Members of her group of about 50 people were injured by guards at the shrine during the 2009 incident, Lin added. Police say her group injured shrine employees, according to news reports.
