The government yesterday urged Japan to deal cautiously with acts by its politicians on the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, to avoid damage to bilateral relations.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) made the remarks in response to a plan outlined by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on Monday to purchase three islets that are part of the Diaoyutai chain.
Ishihara, who made the comments during a visit to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been negotiating with the private Japanese owners of the islands and it was close to reaching an agreement to buy them.
“Would anyone have a problem with an act by the Japanese to protect our own land?” Ishihara was quoted as saying.
“Tokyo has decided to buy them. Tokyo is going to protect the Senkaku Islands,” he said.
Ishihara said the purchase was aimed at preventing China from taking “effective control” of the islands out of Japan’s hands, according to media reports.
He said he had begun negotiations to purchase Uotsurijima, Kitakojima and Minamikojima in the uninhabited island chain, which is owned by a Japanese family and leased to the Japanese government.
The islands are owned by a family named Kurihara who bought them decades ago from descendants of the previous Japanese owners.
The online edition of the conservative Sankei Shimbun reported that the owners had agreed to sell to the Tokyo government.
Ishihara will hold hearings with experts and seek the agreement of the local legislature in his bid to buy the islands when the Japanese government’s annually renewable leases expires at the end of March, the Sankei said.
He did not discuss the expected cost of the islands in Washington, saying only they would be “not too expensive.”
In Taipei, Chang said that the ministry did not recognize any remarks made by Japanese politicians regarding the sovereignty of the Diaoyutais.
“We call on the Japanese government to handle the comments cautiously. We do not want to see any kind of actions taken unilaterally because they would damage our cordial relationship with Japan,” Chang said.
The Republic of China has long maintained that it holds sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, but that all claimants should set aside sovereignty disputes and instead jointly develop the region to the benefit all parties, Chang said.
“We urge all parties involved to tackle the issue in a peaceful, rational way,” he said.
If realized, Ishihara’s move would mark a new stage in the long-rumbling territorial dispute over the islands, which sit in rich fishing grounds that may harbor lucrative energy resources.
China also lays claim to the islands and relations between Tokyo and Beijing plunged in September 2010 when Japan’s coast guard detained a Chinese fishing boat captain who rammed a patrol boat near the islands.
China cut off exports of rare earth minerals and halted political and cultural exchanges, forcing Japan into what was widely seen as a humiliating climbdown.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique