Undeterred by protesters dogging his controversial visit to Taiwan, the governor of Tokyo told his Taipei counterpart yesterday that he is interested in enhancing links between the two capital cities. He declined, however, to give a direct answer to the proposal of establishing sister-city ties.
After avoiding having to run a gauntlet of protests by entering the Regent Hotel through a side door, Shintaro Ishihara (
Before the closed-door meeting began, Ma said that although flights between Taipei and Tokyo are as frequent as 59 a week, and over 700,000 Taiwanese visit Japan and vice versa annually, there is room for improving ties between the two cities.
Ishihara's answer, in front of a roomful reporters, was affirmative.
"Taipei is a capital, so is Tokyo. Taipei-Tokyo relations should be defined as city-to-city interactions, and I think it is a good thing to see both cities push for exchanges in cultural and economic areas," Ishihara said through a translator.
"I totally agree with such a proposal," Ma said, adding that Taipei needs to learn from Tokyo when considering how to improve its disaster management system.
"We [city officials] intend to travel to Tokyo to make a survey of related facilities there," Ma said.
"But similar moves in the past have met with difficulties. So I hope you can assist us to overcome these difficulties," Ma said.
"Anytime will do. I welcome Taipei to send delegates to Tokyo," Ishihara said.
Pleasantries aside, the ensuing 20-minute meeting got under way with a clear avoidance of sensitive political issues, city officials said.
King Pu-tsung (
Ishihara's polite refusal to say "yes" to Taipei's proposal to establish sister-city ties with Tokyo yesterday was not at all surprising, insiders said. After all, Ishihara had already poured cold water on a similar offer by Ma made last June in a letter carried by a Taiwanese lawyer, Wang Chin-fong (
Most obviously, such a decision to recognize Taipei would entail cutting the sister-city ties which have been established for the past 20 years with Beijing.
Still, Ma was undaunted, asking Wang yesterday to continue acting as a go-between with Ishihara to push for the establishment of sister-city links, King said.
Ishihara also told Lung Ying-tai (
"We will e-mail our counterparts [in Tokyo today] to establish a bridge first before discussing details on how to realize the proposal," said Lung, who had presented a related proposal to Ishihara yesterday.
Yet although political issues didn't take center stage during yesterday's meeting, it was difficult for Ishihara to avoid controversy as he continued his trip. Hundreds of people gathered in front of the hotel to voice their displeasure with Ishihara -- who they claimed was "a symbol of Japanese militarism."
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