Japanese education chiefs will for the first time instruct schools to teach children that islands disputed with China and South Korea belong unequivocally to Tokyo, the Japanese government said yesterday.
The announcement immediately prompted anger in Seoul, which called in the Japanese ambassador and warned of “reciprocal countermeasures” if the changes are not withdrawn immediately.
Revised teachers’ manuals for junior and senior-high schools will be issued to education boards across the nation, a Japanese education ministry official said.
“From the educational point of view, it is natural for a state to teach its children about integral parts of its own territory,” Japanese Education Minister Hakubun Shimomura told a news conference.
The move comes as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stirred controversy with his unabashed nationalism, including a visit to a war shrine widely viewed by neighboring countries as a symbol of Tokyo’s wartime aggression.
Japan is embroiled in a row with China over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands (釣魚島) in China, and which Taiwan also claims.
Beijing’s reaction was muted, with Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chun-ying (華春瑩) saying the Chinese government was “severely concerned” and had launched “solemn representations.”
Tokyo and Seoul, meanwhile, are at odds over the sovereignty of a pair of sparsely inhabited rocks in waters between them, administered by Seoul as the Dokdo, but claimed as Takeshima in Japan.
The new manuals describe both sets of islands as “integral parts of Japanese territory” for the first time, the official said.
The manuals will also note that the Takeshima Islands are “illegally” occupied by South Korea, and that Japan does not even recognize the existence of a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, the official said.
The previous manuals instructed teachers only to refer to a difference in Japanese and South Korean positions on Takeshima, while there were no remarks on the Senkakus.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source