A group of Non-Partisan Solidarity Union (NPSU) politicians yesterday lodged a protest with Japan's Interchange Association, Taipei Office, over what they called "rude and unreasonable" treatment received by a group of Aboriginal demonstrators in Japan a day earlier.
The protesters, led by aboriginal Legislator May Chin (高金素梅) of the NPSU, had planned to demonstrate outside the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, where their ancestors who fought for the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II are honored.
They are demanding the removal of the Aboriginal soldiers' tablets from the shrine so that their "spirits can be escorted back to Taiwan."
The group was stopped by Japanese police about 200m from the shrine and prohibited from getting out of their buses.
To show their support for Chin, NPSU Chairwoman Chang Po-ya (張博雅), Legislators Chen Chin-ting (陳進丁) and Tsai Hao (蔡豪) submitted a letter of protest to the the Interchange Association.
In the letter, the NPSU said the "rude and unreasonable" method employed by Japanese police in dealing with the matter reminds people of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan more than 100 years ago and the "bullying" endured by the Taiwanese people at that time.
The NPSU also demanded that the Japanese prime minister stop paying yearly visits to the Yasukuni shrine and approve the family members' request to perform rites at the shrine.
During the meeting with the NPSU representatives, Japanese officials said the actions taken by the police on Tuesday were based on "traffic safety" considerations, according to Chang.
But Chang claimed the reason is not convincing because the protesters had only planned to stage a demonstration and were not going to march.
Tsai claimed that the way Japan handled the matter has seriously undermined the dignity of Taiwan and its legislators, and urged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step in to negotiate with Tokyo for a proper settlement.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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