Japan’s Interchange Association — Tokyo’s representative office — confirmed yesterday that Representative Masaki Saito has resigned but said the resignation would not take effect until its board of directors approves it.
There was immediate speculation that the career diplomat’s surprise move was linked to remarks he made at an academic conference in May at National Chung Cheng University, remarks that were widely criticized at the time by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers.
Speaking at the annual meeting of the Republic of China International Relations Association, Saito said Taiwan’s status was “still unresolved.”
The envoy apologized later for his remarks and Tokyo said Saito’s comments were his own views and did not represent the Japanese government.
While KMT members attacked him, accusing him of spreading false information about Taiwan, independence supporters hailed him for “speaking the truth.”
Shinji Hiyama, the cultural liaison of the Interchange Association, refused to comment on Saito’s resignation except to say Saito was leaving his post for “personal reasons.”
It was not clear exactly when Saito tendered his resignation or when he would leave Taiwan.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had no information about Saito’s departure.
“The foreign ministry has no information about it and it will respect the decision of the Japanese government,” Deputy Secretary-General of the Association of East Asia Relations Nien Shin-shyh (粘信士) told a routine ministry press conference.
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said Taiwan does not interfere with the decision-making process regarding foreign ambassadors’ postings and he stressed that Saito’s departure would not hurt Taiwan-Japan relations.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴), a former foreign minister, said he “was not surprised” by the news because Saito’s resignation had been expected since the controversy.
Chiang, who is a member of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, said Saito had lost all credibility and the ability to function as a diplomat because “hardly anyone in the administration and the legislature was willing to meet him.”
“It was unfathomable that a professional diplomat would make such negative remarks toward the country in which he was serving. His resignation was only a matter of time,” Chiang said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers, however, said Saito’s leaving showed that President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) “China-friendly” foreign policy had interfered with Taiwan’s effort to have “substantive relations” with non-allies.
“We are very saddened and disappointed by this outcome. We are very thankful for Saito’s willingness to stand up for Taiwan,” DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said, adding that Taiwan-Japan ties were at their “lowest point” in a decade.
DPP Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) said Saito’s resignation brought shame to Taiwan and the administration must change its China-centric attitude before ruining the nation’s friendship with other countries.
The government’s indirect boycott of Saito was the main reason for his departure, Yeh said.
China’s influence could have also driven Saito away because ousting a diplomat that believes Taiwan’s status was unresolved fits Beijing’s interests, DPP Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞), who heads the Taiwan-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Group and is on a visit to Hokkaido, said yesterday that he had learned of Saito’s resignation a few days ago.
In addition to the uproar caused by his remarks, Saito felt this was the right time to retire because of the birth of his grandchild, Lee said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
Also See: First representative office in decades opens in Japan
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS