Japan’s incoming prime minister yesterday pledged to seek a thaw in ties with China after a report said he would send a special envoy on a fence-mending mission to Beijing.
Ties between Japan and China have become increasingly strained over a disputed island chain also claimed by Taiwan — the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台列嶼), controlled by Tokyo, which calls them the Senkakus, and which Beijing calls the Diaoyu Islands (釣魚群島) — with neither side willing to budge after months of bitter wrangling.
“I want to make efforts to return to the starting point of developing the mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” Japanese prime minister-elect Shinzo Abe told reporters.
“The Japan-China relationship is one of extremely important bilateral ties,” he said.
The comments came after the business daily Nikkei reported Abe would send Masahiko Komura, the vice president of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), to deliver a letter to Chinese authorities next month.
They also came a day after China sent ships into territorial waters around the disputed islands, in the first incursion since Japan elected a new government.
“I will shoulder grave responsibility [for Japan’s future],” Abe, who will officially be appointed as prime minister on Wednesday, told supporters in his constituency in western Japan yesterday. “My mission is to bring a breakthrough in the serious situations we face in economy, diplomacy, and education.”
Abe said on Friday he would dispatch former Japanese finance minister Fukushiro Nukaga to deliver a letter to South Korean president-elect Park Geun-hye, who also triumphed in national elections just days ago.
Tokyo is embroiled in a separate row with Seoul over a different set of islets, with tensions flaring up earlier this year after outgoing South Korean President Lee Myung-bak paid a sudden visit to the disputed territory.
“Abe intends to improve frayed ties with South Korea and with China by sending special envoys,” the Nikkei said, without citing sources.
Abe’s sweeping parliamentary victory on Sunday was greeted with caution in Beijing and Seoul, with China saying it was “highly concerned” over Japan’s future direction under the new government.
In one of his first broadcast interviews after the parliamentary win, Abe said there was no room for compromise on the sovereignty of the disputed islands, calling them “Japan’s inherent territory,” and putting the onus for improved relations on Beijing.
Despite warm words about the importance of economic ties with Beijing — China is Japan’s biggest trading partner — Abe stressed the need to build relations with other countries, such as India and Australia.
Analysts have said at least some of this could be posturing, with some believing Abe’s LDP will have easier communication with China due to the contacts it developed during its more than half a century rule before it was ousted in 2009.
Abe said yesterday there was “no change in our plans to study” stationing officials on the disputed islands — a controversial policy option that would further provoke Beijing.
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