As part of a coordinated global action, former "comfort women" and their supporters marched and staged a demonstration yesterday in Taipei demanding an apology and reparations from the Japanese government.
Yesterday marked the 62nd anniversary of Japan's surrender at the end of World War II.
But more than six decades later, the Japanese government still denies some war crimes ever took place, despite calls from "comfort women" for acknowledgment.
During World War II, an estimated 200,000 Asian women were forced by the Japanese Imperial Army to serve as "comfort women," or sex slaves.
Tokyo has not apologized, but set up the Asian Women's Fund in 1995 to issue compensation.
The march yesterday, attended by dozens of protesters, was another attempt to pressure Tokyo into admitting that its troops enslaved women during the war.
"Apologize, Japan!" The demonstrators shouted as they marched in Taipei, starting near Zhongxiao-Fuxing MRT station and walking toward Japan's representative office, the Interchange Association, Taipei Office.
Several former "comfort women" were in attendance, carrying signs that read: "Give us back our reputation," "Give us back our dignity" and "Protest against Japan."
The protesters were stopped by police 50m from the Interchange office.
"The facts of history won't disappear just because you are trying to hide them," Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Shu-ying (黃淑英) said at the protest.
"We will continue until Japan apologizes," Huang said.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Joanna Lei (雷倩) said that she would push for a resolution urging Japan to apologize and provide appropriate compensation.
"The resolution will be passed along with the budgets for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Presidential Office and will be legally binding," Lei said.
An anonymous official with the Interchange Association said the office was aware of the protest but would not comment.
Also see story:
Japan marks anniversary of World War II surrender
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai