A coalition of veterans who served in the Japanese military during World War II and their families protested outside the legislature yesterday, voicing support for Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang's (蘇進強) visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine.
Bearing banners with the words "ignorant, audacious May Chin (
May Chin on Tuesday evening led protesters at CKS International Airport to meet Shu and eight other TSU members returning from Japan. Shu was jostled by the protesters and pelted with eggs as he headed for the exit.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to Japan's 2.5 million war dead and lists the names of 28,000 Taiwanese and 21,000 Korean soldiers, most of whom were forced to serve in the Japanese army.
Yesterday's protest later moved into the legislature to hold a press conference at the TSU caucus office. Taiwanese independence activist Su Beng (史明) said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should be held responsible for the controversy over Shu's visit to the shrine.
"Not only does Shu's trip make sense, but the timing was also right," he said. "I don't understand why Taiwanese people cannot pay respect to our own people."
Su said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government maliciously abandoned Taiwanese veterans after World War II ended.
About 200,000 Taiwanese were recruited as "volunteers" to fight for the Japanese in Southeast Asia during the war. About 30,000 died.
Instead of bringing the remaining 170,000 survivors home, the KMT government turned its back on them, Su said.
Chen Chun-chin (
"I don't know why it is wrong to visit my old comrades or let others pay their respects to them on my behalf," said Chen, 81, who survived the war after serving for one-and-a-half years.
Chen said his association had asked previous KMT governments on three occasions to seek compensation from the Japanese on their behalf, but to no avail.
"Then-premier Lien Chan (
TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that his party would endeavor to help Taiwanese men forced to serve as Japanese soldiers and Taiwanese women who served as sex slaves to seek compensation from the Japanese government.
Lo also said that his party would collect information on the 28,000 Taiwanese whose names are listed at the Yasukuni Shrine and build a shrine for them in Taiwan.
Chairwoman of the Association for Taiwan Independence Yin Tsu-chi (
"If she's speaking for the Chinese, I don't think she's qualified," Yin said. "If she's speaking for the Taiwanese, she seems to be clueless about the history of Taiwan and Taiwanese values."
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS