A seminar held Saturday in New York City criticized the Japanese comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) and its author, Yoshinori Kobayashi (小林善紀).
Participants in the seminar, presided over by Hua Chun-hsiung (花俊雄), chairman of the pro-unification Association for the Promotion of China's Peaceful Unification, took aim at Shi Wen-lung (許文龍), a senior adviser to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Alice King (金美玲), a national policy adviser to Chen, as well for their recent remarks about Taiwan's history.
Chen Te-lin (陳德麟), a participant, said that during their 50-year rule on the island, the Japanese attempted to erase the Taiwan people's national identity and foster feelings of hostility toward China.
He said the fact that some people in Taiwan have feelings of admiration towards Japan illustrates the deep effect this policy of "imperial citizenization" had.
Chen said that no comprehensive history of Taiwan has been published since that authored by Lien Ya-tang (連雅堂) during the Ching dynasty. He urged those people setting their minds on doing something useful to direct their efforts to writing an updated history of Taiwan that clarifies historical facts and erases any distortions.
Another participant said that Taiwan's general reaction to On Taiwan since its publication has been unsatisfactory.
Kobayashi quoted Shi in On Taiwan as saying that Taiwan "comfort women" were not forced into prostitution by the Japanese military, but did so out of their own free will. The comment provoked widespread controversy in Taiwan.
A few participants at the seminar, however, urged the public to deal with the actual issue itself and not simply launch verbal attacks against specific persons, claiming that freedom of speech should be protected.
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