A court ruled yesterday that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi violated the Constitution when he visited a religious shrine in 2001 that honors Japan's war dead, but the defiant premier vowed to keep going.
Such visits to Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo have long angered China, South Korea and other Asian countries because of the site's association with the ideology of emperor worship behind Japan's wartime conquests.
The court case dealt with Koizumi's first visit as prime minister in August 2001, finding he violated the ban on religious activity by the government. Koizumi has gone to the shrine three times since then.
The plaintiffs cheered the ruling on Yasukuni, which enshrines the souls of 2.5 million Japanese who died in wars in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Japanese executed for war crimes after World War II, including wartime prime minister Hideki Tojo, are also enshrined there.
"This is a fantastic ruling that clearly acknowledges the prime minister's visit to Yasukuni as unconstitutional," said Tsuneaki Gunjima, leader of the plaintiffs.
The activists had also demanded ?21.1 million (US$200,000) for psychological pain and suffering related to the visit, but that was rejected by the court.
The ruling stated that Koizumi's visits were made in his official capacity, though officials have argued they were private. Koizumi signed the shrine visitors' log with "Prime Minister" and arrived at the grounds in a government car.
A defiant Koizumi dismissed the distinction between official and personal shrine visits, and said he would go to Yasukuni again.
"I don't know why it violates the Constitution. I go there as prime minister and as an individual," Koizumi told reporters. "I'm both a public and private person. I will continue my visits there."
The government did not immediately announce whether it would appeal the decision.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS