A plan proposed by Japan to move its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) westward, overlapping parts of Taiwan’s own ADIZ, is “unacceptable,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Deputy Spokesman James Chang (章計平) said the ministry had relayed the Taiwanese government’s position on the matter to the Japanese government through Japan’s Interchange Association in Taipei, which represents Japanese interests in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
Taiwan will keep a close watch on how Japan responds to the matter, he said.
Japan’s Sankei Shinbum reported on Thursday that Tokyo intends to redraw its ADIZ for Yonaguni Island by moving the zone westward in the middle of next month.
Yonaguni is Japan’s westernmost territory, lying 108km from Taiwan’s east coast. The airspace above the western two-thirds of the island now falls under Taiwan’s ADIZ.
An ADIZ differs from a flight information zone in that any aircraft using the airspace needs to obtain advance approval from the appropriate authority. Unapproved flights can be viewed as an incursion.
The ministry confirmed on Thursday that it had recently received such a request from the Japanese government through Japan’s Interchange Association.
The ministry said at the time that it was studying the matter with the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
In a press statement issued yesterday, the ministry rejected Japan’s proposal, saying that the Taiwanese government found Japan’s decision unacceptable because rezoning the ADIZ would involve Taiwan’s airspace and would affect the integrity of the nation’s sovereignty.
It also expressed regret over what it said was Japan’s failure to fully communicate with Taiwan before coming to such a decision.
The ministry said the current Taiwan-Japan ADIZ demarcation line had been drawn during the US military occupation of Okinawa after World War II.
The US demarcation line left the area east of 123 degrees longitude to Japan and the area west of the line to Taiwan. The demarcation line remains valid today, the ministry said.
Some political observers said the move could further chill once close but informal Taipei-Tokyo relations that have become more distant since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in 2008 and courted stronger ties with China.
Japan and Taiwan also dispute the eight uninhabited East China Sea islands known as the Diaoyutai (釣魚台) islands, called the Senkakus by the Japanese, which are rich in fisheries and possibly undersea natural gas reserves. The issue flared in 2008, when a Taiwanese fishing boat sank after colliding with a Japanese coast guard vessel.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY REUTERS AND CNA
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS