Lee breaks his silence on Tiaoyutai islands wrangle

Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) clarified for the first time yesterday comments he made last month on the Tiaoyutai islands.

Lee sent ripples through political circles when he said in an interview with the Okinawa Times on Sept. 24 that "the Tiaoyutai islands are Japanese territory, despite claims by China and Taiwan."

In the wake of the remark, Taiwan officials, including Premier Yu Shyi-kun sought to reiterate the government's stance that the islands only belong to Taiwan, while Lee declined to comment on the interview.

Yesterday Lee broke his silence, saying that it is more important for the Taiwanese government to negotiate fishing rights issues that to dispute the islands' sovereignty.

"Based on historical facts and international laws, the islands belong to Japan's Okinawa. But we have to take care of our fishermen's rights by negotiating with Japan," Lee said.

"You can't say she is your wife just because you see a beauty," he said.

Lee made the remarks at a symposium yesterday held by the Taiwan Advocates (群策會), a think tank of which he serves as chairman.

He explained that the islands belonged to Okinawa during the period that Japan ruled Taiwan. According to Lee, at that time Okinawan fishermen were close with their Taiwanese counterparts because they frequently went to waters near Keelung to fish.

Japan therefore gave Taipei fishing rights in the waters surrounding the islands, he said, and also entrusted Taipei to the management of fishermen in the area.

Lee said that "residents of Taiwan have no interest on the islands, they only care about fishing rights. So we should have talks with Japan about securing fishing rights for our fishermen."

Meanwhile, the symposium also addressed the question of direct links, with the think tank suggesting their implementation would amount to poisoning Taiwan.

Wang To-far (王塗發), an economics professor at National Taipei University, said direct links would accelerate the flow of Taiwan's capital and talent across the Strait.

He also suggested that being overly inclined toward China would damage Taiwan's globalization plans.

"Direct links are a poison rather than a panacea. If Taiwan wishes to rely on direct links to save its economy, it would be like drinking poison to quench one's thirst," Wang said.

Wang said that Hong Kong and Japan have direct trade, mail and transport links with China, but that those links haven't saved their faltering economies.

Day Sheng-tong (戴勝通), president of the National Association of Small and Medium-Size Enterprises, said that although he supports the flow of goods between Taiwan and China, there could be a hollowing-out of Taiwan's tourism industry because it will be more convenient for Taiwanese people to go to China.

In terms of education policies, academics at the think tank suggested yesterday that Hokkien should be included on national tests to show respect to Taiwan's mother language.

"Lawmakers, officials and political figures should speak Tai-wanese to show their respect to Taiwan's mother tongue," said Cheng Cheng-yu (鄭正煜), secretary-general of the Southern Tai-wan Society.

Cheng further suggested that Taiwan should format an education system based on a Taiwan-centered perspective, especially setting up Taiwan history departments in the nation's universities.

"We should change the `greater-China' historical perspective that currently exists in our textbooks. As long as we agree that Taiwan is not part of China, we should put Chinese history in the chapters discussing Asia or the world."