Taiwan yesterday threatened to cancel a planned exhibition of the National Palace Museum’s collections in Japan over posters said to undermine the nation’s dignity by omitting the word “national.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday it has lodged a serious protest with Tokyo over the matter.
The Japanese organizers involved with the exhibition must correct “Palace Museum” to “National Palace Museum” by 11pm, Taiwan time (midnight in Tokyo) today, or Taiwan will cancel the event, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: CNA
“We earnestly hope Japan will respect our national position and handle the matter with caution so as to continue to move bilateral relations and people-to-people exchanges forward,” it said.
If the exhibition is canceled over the posters, first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) will call off her planned visit to Japan for the exhibition’s opening, Presidential Office spokesman Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said.
An afternoon press conference yesterday in Tokyo held to officially announce the exhibition, which is due to open on Tuesday, was put off as the ministry worked with Japanese officials in an effort to resolve the issue.
Selected artifacts from the museum are set to be put on display under the title “Treasured Masterpieces from the National Palace Museum, Taipei” at the Tokyo Museum from Tuesday to Sept. 15, and at the Kyushu National Museum from Oct. 7 to Nov. 30.
Controversy erupted when some posters advertising the Tokyo exhibition were found to refer to the National Palace Museum as simply “Palace Museum, Taipei,” an apparent violation of an agreement between Taiwan and Japan that the Taipei museum’s full name be used in all publicity materials.
The posters in question, which have been spotted at train stations and parks in Tokyo, were prepared by a media sponsor group comprising major media outlets including NHK, the Asahi Shimbun and other TV stations and newspapers.
Meanwhile, official posters and brochures prepared by the Tokyo National Museum refer to the Taipei museum by its official name.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said that “National Palace Museum” is the museum’s only official name and that the government will not accept any names that undermine the nation’s dignity.
Japan, like most other countries, has diplomatic ties with Beijing rather than Taipei, but maintains close trade and civil ties with the nation, which was its colony from 1895 to 1945.
The National Palace Museum announced last year a loan of 231 artifacts to Japan, its first to an Asian country, following exhibitions in the US, France, Germany and Austria.
The museum boasts more than 600,000 artifacts spanning 7,000 years of Chinese history from the Neolithic period to the end of the Qing Dynasty, which were mostly removed from Beijing’s Forbidden City.
For years the National Palace Museum was unwilling to lend the artifacts to Japan for fear that China would try to reclaim them, until the Japanese government passed a law in 2011 to prevent such seizures.
Additional reporting by AFP
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS