More than 50 people representing Taiwan's indigenous tribes arrived in Japan yesterday to demand that the names of their ancestors forced to fight in World War II be removed from a controversial war memorial.
The protesters, many in traditional clothes, held a ceremony outside an airport lobby before they boarded their planes to summon the spirits of their ancestors killed in the war.
Representing nine tribes, they plan to protest from today outside Yasukuni shrine, dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted Japanese war criminals.
PHOTO: AFP
Japanese authorities have, however, warned them via Taiwan's de facto embassy that they would be barred from visiting the shrine.
The group also plans to travel to Osaka where a verdict is expected on June 17 in a court case demanding the removal of the names.
Some 28,000 Taiwanese names -- about 10,000 of them of indigenous Taiwanese forced to join the Japanese military -- are listed at the shrine.
The soldiers listed were pressed into military service when Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945.
"What we want is simple: that the names of our sacrificed ancestors be removed from the Yasukuni shrine," Chang Chun-chieh (張俊傑), an aide to Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) who is heading the group, said.
"The names of the ancestors should not be listed together with some 1,100 Japanese soldiers who died while invading [Taiwan]," Chang said.
Another protester, Tu Shui-chiu, told reporters: "I had dreamed of a group of ancestors last night. They are anxiously waiting for our arrival."
May Chin said last week her office had received "countless phone calls" warning her group against making the trip.
She said she had also been sent an anonymous postcard which threatened in Mandarin: "I will wait for you in Japan on June 13 so that you can come to Japan and return lifeless to Taiwan."
Undaunted, she said: "We'll protest in a peaceful manner as scheduled."
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
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS