Although Japan is Taiwan's neighbor, it has always viewed the island with considerable misunderstanding and ignorance. Since Taiwan's democratization, Japan has paid more attention, but this has led to even more misunderstandings.
One year after President Chen Shui-bian (
Interviews Lee has given to Japanese reporters, in Japanese, have reinforced his popularity in Japan -- though many of the comments have created a furor back home in Taiwan. A clear example of this tendency is Japanese author Ryotaro Shiba's (司馬遼太郎) Travel Notes from Taiwan (台灣紀行) -- which included Lee's remarks on the "sadness of being Taiwanese."
Recent publications which introduced Lee and Taiwan to the Japanese include Yoshinori Kobayashi's (
Lee's goodwill toward Japanese of his generation has satisfied their nostalgia for the old days. In addition, while Japan has constantly been reproached by the world for its wartime invasions, Lee has been the only foreign leader who praises Japan. Such comments are music to the ears of the Japanese, mostly because they come from the (now former) leader of a former Japanese colony. Plus, many Japanese are deeply attracted to Lee's personal charm, his erudition in Japanese culture and his fluent Japanese.
Undeniably, Japan's understanding of Taiwan has increased because of Lee's contributions. Many Japanese have become fans of Taiwan. But when Japanese authors -- whom Lee praises and appreciates -- were portraying Lee or Taiwan, they only wrote down that which tallied with their own ideologies -- and therefore twisted the facts.
For example, Japanese authors have described Taiwan as a place extremely close to Japan. Except remarks made by Lee and "local Taiwanese" (本省人),descendants of the early immigrants from China) of his generation, the authors ignore all criticism of Japan by Taiwan's other ethnic groups.
As a result, Japanese readers are biased and interpret the criticism Lee receives in Taiwan as the pro-unification camp's attacks against the pro-independence camp. From such a vantage point, pro-Japan and pro-independence local Taiwanese are considered "good" while anti-Japan and anti-independence "mainlanders" (外省人) and other ethnic groups are considered "evil." Hidden behind such an interpretation is the growing Japanese dislike for China.
The question should be how Japan can get along with Taiwan and China at the same time, not humanitarian concerns, such as Lee's recent trip to Japan for medical tests..
Chen's inauguration marked a change of generations in Taiwan. But the old generation's "human sympathy" diplomacy (
Takefumi Hayata is publisher of the Taiwan Report Weekly.
Translated by Eddy Chang
A foreign colleague of mine asked me recently, “What is a safe distance from potential People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force’s (PLARF) Taiwan targets?” This article will answer this question and help people living in Taiwan have a deeper understanding of the threat. Why is it important to understand PLA/PLARF targeting strategy? According to RAND analysis, the PLA’s “systems destruction warfare” focuses on crippling an adversary’s operational system by targeting its networks, especially leadership, command and control (C2) nodes, sensors, and information hubs. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, noted in his 15 May 2025 Sedona Forum keynote speech that, as
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) last week announced that the KMT was launching “Operation Patriot” in response to an unprecedented massive campaign to recall 31 KMT legislators. However, his action has also raised questions and doubts: Are these so-called “patriots” pledging allegiance to the country or to the party? While all KMT-proposed campaigns to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have failed, and a growing number of local KMT chapter personnel have been indicted for allegedly forging petition signatures, media reports said that at least 26 recall motions against KMT legislators have passed the second signature threshold
The Central Election Commission (CEC) on Friday announced that recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) have been approved, and that a recall vote would take place on July 26. Of the recall motions against 35 KMT legislators, 31 were reviewed by the CEC after they exceeded the second-phase signature thresholds. Twenty-four were approved, five were asked to submit additional signatures to make up for invalid ones and two are still being reviewed. The mass recall vote targeting so many lawmakers at once is unprecedented in Taiwan’s political history. If the KMT loses more
Taiwan’s unconditional support “for all legitimate and necessary actions taken by the government of India to safeguard national security and fight terrorist forces that cross borders to attack innocent civilians” marked a monumental shift in the relationship between Taipei and New Delhi. At a time when the Indian government sent several delegations of parliament members to convey to the rest of the world Pakistan’s role in sponsoring terrorism against India, Taiwan became one of the few nations that unequivocally supported India’s military operation, “Sindhoor.” Sure, this change in bilateral ties did not happen in a vacuum. Over the past decade,
RSS