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MOFA protests visit to Diaoyutais by Japanese politicians

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday protested a planned visit to the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands by a five-member delegation from the Japanese House of Representatives.

“MOFA strongly protests the Japanese House of Representatives’ visit to the Diaoyutai islands on a Japanese coast guard aircraft, and would like to call on Japan to not create further disputes,” a statement released by the ministry said.

“The government has always held the position that the Diao-yutais are our territory, and expects that the government of Japan understands our determination to defend our sovereignty [over the Diaoyutais], and not create disputes that damage the friendship between the two countries,” the statement said.

The Diaoyutai islands are located in the waters between Taiwan and Japan, with both countries and China claiming sovereignty over them.

A diplomatic crisis broke out last month between Taiwan and Japan when a Taiwanese fishing boat was hit by a Japanese patrol vessel and sank while approaching the Diaoyutais.

Taiwan protested by recalling its representative to Japan.

The incident finally came to an end when Japanese officials apologized to the fishing boat’s captain and said that they were willing to compensate him for losses.

Taiwan expressed its wish to hold talks with Japan on the sovereignty issue and Taiwanese fishermen’s right to be in the area.

However, yesterday’s events may add uncertainty to future developments.

“We’ve expressed our concerns and reaffirmed our stance on the Diaoyutai’s sovereignty to the Japanese government through our representative office in Tokyo,” MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) told the Taipei Times via telephone.

Asked for comment, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方), head of the legislature’s Diplomacy and National Defense Committee, said it was unnecessary for Taiwanese legislators to visit the islands now just because Japanese congressmen intended to make an inspection trip there.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang
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