Tanaka's remarks still provoking response

Japanese foreign minister Makiko Tanaka's controversial remarks on Taiwan's sovereignty continued to come under attack in both Japan and Taiwan yesterday, with a leading Japanese newspaper reportedly describing the remarks as "utterly abrasive."

"The Japanese language newspaper Sankei Shimbun in an editorial said Tanaka's remarks were utterly abrasive," said Hsu Kuo-chen (許國禎), spokesman for Taiwan's representative office in Tokyo, in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times.

"It argued that her [Tanaka's] statements violated the Japanese government's longstanding stance on cross-strait issues of allowing the two sides to resolve their problems in a peaceful manner," Hsu said.

The outspoken foreign minister told a press conference on Tuesday, "The Chinese people have the wisdom to take their time on political issues. Hong Kong was returned to China and the situation was resolved quietly, and I hope the Taiwan issue will be handled in a similar manner.

"Japan, as a neighboring country, and the rest of the world should make efforts to ensure that the issue will be resolved peacefully," she added.

Tanaka's remarks immediately triggered severe protest from some who interpreted them as suggesting that the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty could be resolved by following the Hong Kong model.

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Beijing's rule in July 1997 under the so-called "one country, two systems" model.

"The response we've received from the Japanese government so far is that Japan's policy on cross-strait issues remains unchanged. Japan has long proposed that cross-strait differences should be resolved by peaceful means," said Katherine Chang (張小月), spokesperson for Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "And we will keep an eye on developments," she said.

The Sankei Shimbun editorial also blasted Tanaka for "departing from Japan's basic position" by likening Taiwan's situation to that of Hong Kong.

It said Tanaka had made "a fundamental mistake" as the histories of Hong Kong and Taiwan "have been completely different."

Taiwan's Vice Foreign Minister Wu Tzu-dan (吳子丹) Wednesday issued a formal protest against Tanaka's remarks to Japan's top representative to Taipei, Shintaro Yamashita, head of the Interchange Association of Japan.

During the one-hour closed-door meeting with Yamashita, Wu stressed the differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong and that Taiwan's government opposed the "one country, two systems" model, according to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wu also said Taiwan insisted on resolving cross-strait issues through peaceful negotiation.

Lo Fu-chen (羅福全), Taiwan's top representative to Japan, also lodged a protest Wednesday with the Interchange Association of Japan in Tokyo.

Protests against Tanaka's statement have been widely reported by Japanese media.

Some viewed the comments as indicative of a further tilting toward China on Tanaka's part since she joined the Japanese Cabinet last spring.

Tanaka, who has ties to Chinese officials including the Chinese foreign minister Tang Jiasuan (唐家璇), said in April that she would exercise caution in deciding whether to issue a visa to Taiwan's former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) as "issuing him a visa two or three times would cause political turmoil in our relations with China."