Beijing warned that Japan might be barred from participating in a major high speed railway project in China shortly after former president Lee Teng-hui (
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei (
Praising the high quality of the Shinkansen, or Japanese bullet train, Wu nevertheless said Beijing might have to exclude Japan from the Beijing-Shanghai railway project, which Japan, Germany and France have competed for fiercely over the past few years.
"We are facing high anti-Japan sentiment in China. If our government adopts the Shinkansen technique in the railway project, people would have [negative] opinions," Wu said.
Xu Jialu (
"The current relations between China and Japan make it hard for us to adopt the Shinkansen technique in building the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway," Xu said.
Beijing's warning to Japan over the railway project, which came a day after Lee arrived in the Japanese city of Nagoya Monday, is viewed as retaliation against Japan's decision to issue Lee a visa despite China's repeated protests.
Calling Lee a mastermind of Taiwan's "independence forces," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said before Lee's trip that Beijing might retaliate against Tokyo if it allowed Lee's visit.
On Wednesday, Lee and his family traveled by train from Nagoya to Kanazawa, a historic castle town by the Sea of Japan. He visited a museum in honor of prestigious local figures and suggested that the museum should display more documents and items related to Yoichi Hatta, an engineer from Kanazawa who led a huge farm irrigation project in Taiwan when it was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945, Japanese media reported.
Later in the day, Lee met Ohi Chozaemon, a 77-year-old traditional ceramic artist, and made a ceramic mug for his good friend Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. According to media reports, Lee wrote the Chinese character "Sincerity" (
Lee and his family toured downtown Kanazawa yesterday morning and returned to Nagoya in the afternoon.
Lee is scheduled to visit another ancient city, Kyoto in western Japan, before flying back to Taipei from Osaka on Sunday.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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