The government had encouraged Taiwanese expatriate groups to protest against the recent visit to Washington of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) representative to the US, Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), said on Wednesday.
Wu said that on the eve of Abe’s visit, the groups were asked by the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Representative Office’s (TECRO) cultural division to sign a petition supporting President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) East China Sea peace initiative for the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkakus in Japan.
Twenty-two of the groups signed the petition and members of some organizations protested against Abe’s visit at the Japanese embassy and on the streets of New York, where they waved flags alongside Chinese banners.
“It was not appropriate for TECRO to become involved in this way,” Wu said.
“We really care about Taiwan’s relationship with Japan — Taiwan should not be working with China to counter Japan,” he said.
Wu raised the issue this week, when he met with US Congressional members during a short visit to Washington. Based in Taipei, Wu comes to Washington every few months.
During a briefing for the Taiwanese press — held in the DPP’s new Washington office near the White House — Wu repeated: “It was not appropriate for TECRO-related groups to start a fire to undercut relations with Japan.”
Wu said that he would have no objection if Taiwanese exaptriates, acting on their own initiative, decided to protest Abe’s visit, but the protests took place after TECRO asked the groups to sign its petition at the very time that Abe was visiting.
He said the protesters had been “encouraged” by the petition.
“It was not appropriate for the cultural division to send these things out at a time coinciding with the visit,” Wu said.
Wu said he hoped to talk with Taiwanese Representative to the US King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) while in Washington, but was not able to arrange a meeting.
“Unfortunately, the schedules couldn’t be worked out,” he said.
Wu met with a number of US representatives, leading members of the US House and Senate staff, think tank analysts, academics and members of the Taiwanese-American community.
He said that one major topic of discussion was the East China Sea dispute and that he stressed the DPP wanted to maintain good relations with Japan, a close US ally in the region.
“Taiwan should not provoke Japan,” he said.
“Although there is a sovereignty dispute between Taiwan and Japan over the Diaoyutai issue, good Taiwan-Japan relations and peace and stability in the region are more important,” Wu said.
Wu was also arranging a visit to Washington by DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌). While the exact dates have not yet been fixed, the visit is expected to take place in late May or early June.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied the allegations.
Bruce Linghu (令狐榮達), the director-general of the ministry’s Department of North American Affairs, said yesterday that the ministry was “absolutely not” behind the anti-Abe protest.
“We have been very clear in our position that we do not want to see Taiwanese expatriates join anti-Abe protests staged by Chinese expat groups. If some Taiwanese were involved, they were there on their own initiative,” he said.
The peace initiative, which emphasizes that “sovereignty is indivisible, while resources can be shared,” is the overarching principle for the ministry’s policies on the East China Sea, and therefore the ministry does not encourage any anti-Japan moves, Linghu said.
Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
TAIWAN IS TAIWAN: US Representative Tom Tiffany said the amendment was not controversial, as ‘Taiwan is not — nor has it ever been — part of Communist China’ The US House of Representatives on Friday passed an amendment banning the US Department of Defense from creating, buying or displaying any map that shows Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The “Honest Maps” amendment was approved in a voice vote on Friday as part of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for the 2026 fiscal year. The amendment prohibits using any funds from the act to create, buy or display maps that show Taiwan, Kinmen, Matsu, Penghu, Wuciou (烏坵), Green Island (綠島) or Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) as part of the PRC. The act includes US$831.5 billion in
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative
Taiwan is hosting the International Linguistics Olympiad (IOL) for the first time, welcoming more than 400 young linguists from 43 nations to National Taiwan University (NTU). Deputy Minister of Education Chu Chun-chang (朱俊彰) said at the opening ceremony yesterday that language passes down knowledge and culture, and influences the way humankind thinks and understands the world. Taiwan is a multicultural and multilingual nation, with Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese, Hakka, 16 indigenous languages and Taiwan Sign Language all used, Chu said. In addition, Taiwan promotes multilingual education, emphasizes the cultural significance of languages and supports the international mother language movement, he said. Taiwan has long participated
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for