Osaka’s mayor yesterday hit back at US criticism of his remarks on wartime sex slavery, claiming US troops abused Japanese women during their seven-year occupation.
Washington denounced as “outrageous” comments earlier this week by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who said “comfort women” forced to provide sex to Japanese troops during World War II were a military necessity.
“Mayor Hashimoto’s comments were outrageous and offensive,” US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, urging Tokyo to work with its neighbors to address the past.
Up to 200,000 “comfort women” from Taiwan, Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military during World War II, but Hashimoto hit back on Twitter.
“Let me go straight to the point. When America occupied Japan, didn’t they make use of Japanese women?” Hashimoto tweeted to his 1 million followers.
“I can’t help but point out that it is unfair for America to criticize only Japan by putting aside acts by its own country,” said Hashimoto, who has been mentioned as a possible future Japanese prime minister. “[The US] should face what the US military did against local women, in particular Okinawan women, when they occupied Japan.”
US-led Allied powers controlled Japan until 1952 following its surrender at the end of World War II. The southern prefecture of Okinawa remained under US governance for another two decades.
On Monday, Hashimoto prompted outrage by saying that soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam and that this was provided by the comfort women system. He said he believed the system was wrong and that former sex slaves deserved an apology.
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
Renewed border fighting between Thailand and Cambodia showed no signs of abating yesterday, leaving hundreds of thousands of displaced people in both countries living in strained conditions as more flooded into temporary shelters. Reporters on the Thai side of the border heard sounds of outgoing, indirect fire yesterday. About 400,000 people have been evacuated from affected areas in Thailand and about 700 schools closed while fighting was ongoing in four border provinces, said Thai Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesman for the military. Cambodia evacuated more than 127,000 villagers and closed hundreds of schools, the Thai Ministry of Defense said. Thailand’s military announced that
RSS