Just hours after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sat down for his first substantial talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), three of his Cabinet ministers yesterday visited the war shrine that Beijing sees as a symbol of Tokyo’s violent past.
Visits by the three have the potential to muddy diplomatic waters that were starting to clear after their nationalist boss sat down with the Chinese president on the sidelines of a regional summit in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“I offered my sincere appreciation for the people who fought and sacrificed their precious lives for the sake of the country,” Japanese National Public Safety Commission Minister Eriko Yamatani told reporters after her pilgrimage.
Photo: AFP
“I pledged efforts for building a peaceful country,” said the minister, known for her strident nationalistic views.
She was followed over the next few hours by Haruko Arimura, state minister in charge of female empowerment, and Japanese Internal Affairs and Communication Minister Sanae Takaichi.
More than 100 Japanese lawmakers went to the shrine on Wednesday to coincide with its spring festival, even as officials were making final arrangements for the Xi-Abe meet.
Abe had asked his ministers not to visit before the talks happened, according to Jiji Press.
Xi and Abe held discussions in Jakarta for about 30 minutes, their first lengthy pow-wow since both men came to the helm of nations that are bitterly at odds over history and current territorial disputes.
Abe later told reporters that they had a “very meaningful summit meeting” and bilateral relations were improving.
In Tokyo yesterday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, speaking after Yamatani’s pilgrimage, said it should have no bearing on warming China ties.
“I don’t think there will be [any impact]. The visit was made in a personal capacity,” Suga said.
Masaru Ikei, professor emeritus at Keio University and an expert on Japanese diplomatic history, said shrine visits like this were somewhat inevitable, but unlikely to be a disaster.
Taiwan expressed regret yesterday over the visit to the shrine.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Anna Kao (高安) said the government regrets the visit by more than 100 Japanese lawmakers to the shrine a day earlier.
The shrine honors Imperial Japan’s war dead, including 30,304 Taiwanese. It is seen by many as a symbol of Japan’s wartime militarism.
Noting that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Kao said the government urged Japanese politicians to look squarely at historical facts and reflect deeply upon themselves.
Kao called on Japan to refrain from actions that could hurt the feelings of the people in neighboring countries, and to develop friendly relations with other countries to promote regional peace and stability.
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
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
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
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