In China there is an old saying that goes "old friends will visit in a storm," meaning that a friend will always be there in times of need. How apt this is for describing the recent visit to Taiwan by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. Unfortunately, due to some people's idea of hospitality, his well-intentioned visit turned sour. We owe Ishihara not only our gratitude, but an apology as well.
Ishihara is the governor of a major international city, and one would imagine that he has a very busy schedule. Regardless, he was able to find the time to visit Taiwan, and promote our tourist industry without asking for anything in return. This is something to be grateful for, especially when he fulfilled his promise to visit Taiwan despite the fact that his own country was in the midst of coping with the aftermath of typhoons and earthquakes. His decision not to change his itinerary shows how valuable his friendship is to Taiwan.
Many countries are forced to get celebrities to promote their tourist industries. Ishihara is helping Taiwan for free, and Taiwan could not purchase the services of such an influential spokesperson with any amount of money. Ishihara enjoys a high profile in Japan, and his promotion of the Taiwan Railway Administration's (TRA) new Star of Formosa is sure to bring in large numbers of Japanese tourists.
On Oct. 26, Ishihara, together with a large entourage of Japanese media, was invited by the TRA to join the Star of Formosa on her maiden journey to Ilan, Hualien and Taitung. However, because of Typhoon Nock-Ten, services were suspended between Taipei and Ilan, and the TRA worked through the night to get them up and running again, the general public had to wait until the evening before they could make their journey. There were immediate cries of "special privilege" by certain politicians and members of the public, spoiling what was to be a positive event for relations between Taiwan and Japan.
In fact, the Star of Formosa train that was used on Oct. 26 is a special train used for filming promotional materials. Running this train is quite different from running trains with regular passengers and has nothing to do with "special privilege." The safety considerations of such a train and regular trains are different. In fact, that afternoon, one northern rail line had to be closed again soon after opening, following rushed repairs, because of a derailment. The fact that Ishihara was willing to take a journey in the Star of Formosa in conditions that were far from ideal is something for which we should be grateful. This is hardly a special privilege!
Many politicians are already putting on a show in the runup to the year-end legislative elections. The result in this case is to censure and slander Ishihara, who is a friend of Taiwan and who is helping to promote tourism in this country. The fact that dysfunction within Taiwanese society has caused such offense is a matter for regret.
In a political establishment that largely fears China, Ishihara is one of the few politicians in Japan who has maintained a determined support for Taiwan and has been willing to say no to China. He not only supports Taiwan's sovereignty, but is also a friend to Taiwan's 23 million inhabitants. We should be proud to have such a friend, and we should cherish such friendship. Instead, pan-blue politicians have brought up the Sino-Japanese war, which is irrelevant to this matter. Taiwan ceased to be a Japanese colony with the Treaty of San Francisco in 1951, and now has put aside any enmity with Japan.
It is only China, who was not a signatory to the treaty, that cannot forget the Sino-Japanese war and the fact that sovereignty over Taiwan didn't belong to China at that time. The pan-blue camp's attitude in censuring Ishihara simply goes to show that they have turned their back on benefiting the Taiwanese people, and that they are spiritually one and the same entity as the Beijing authorities.
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