More than 70 activists gathered outside Japan’s representative office in Taipei yesterday tore up Japanese rising sun flags in a protest against the country’s move to buy three of the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkakus in Japan, from their private owner.
The activists, including members of the Taiwan Labor Party, said that Japan’s move to purchase and nationalize the islands, part of a chain that is also claimed by Taiwan and China, has undermined stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Demanding that Japan stop what they described as the “illegal occupation” of the uninhabited islands, the demonstrators chanted slogans and threw shreds of the torn-up Japanese flags at the Taipei office of the Interchange Association, Japan, Tokyo’s de facto embassy in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Office personnel accepted a protest letter from the demonstrators after the 30-minute rally and promised to forward it to their superiors.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard Administration said it would continue its regular missions to protect Taiwanese fishermen operating in waters near the islands and that it does not rule out increasing the number of boats patrolling the area when Taiwanese activists head to the islands to make sovereignty claims.
The remarks came in response to reports that fishermen’s associations have vowed to dispatch more than 100 vessels to the islands if the government plans any activities in the region to bolster Taiwan’s claim.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Although the Diaoyutais fall within a “provisional enforcement line” tentatively agreed upon by Japan and Taiwan, Japanese patrol ships tend to harass or disperse Taiwanese fishing boats if they are within 12 nautical miles (22km) of the islands.
The Suao Fishermen’s Association said yesterday that the operations of Taiwanese fishing vessels are not affected as long as they stay at least 12 nautical miles from the archipelago.
Association director Lin Yueh-ying (林月英) said that, so far, she had not heard of any plans by fishermen to sail to the disputed area to protest or make territorial claims.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s APEC envoy Lien Chan (連戰) yesterday said he had called on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to handle the dispute over the Diaoyutais in accordance with international laws and to resolve the issue peacefully.
Lien and Noda met on Saturday on the sidelines of an APEC leaders’ forum and exchanged ideas on issues including economic cooperation, negotiations on fishing rights and cooperation in the fishing industry.
While Noda proposed to strengthen efforts to push forward cooperation in the fishing industry, Lien called on Japan to exercise self-restraint when handling territorial disputes in the East China Sea.
In the wake of Japan’s move to nationalize some of the disputed Diaoyutai Islands, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recalled Taiwan’s representative to Japan Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳).
Shen returned to Taiwan yesterday to brief the ministry on the latest developments.
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
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
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
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