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No plans to seek Saito recall: deputy minister

The government has no plans to demand that Tokyo recall Interchange Association Representative Masaki Saito and the Japanese government has said that Saito’s recent comments on Taiwan’s status do not reflect the country’s official stance, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) told a group of lawmakers yesterday.

Another deputy minister of foreign affairs, Andrew Hsia (夏立言), on Friday summoned Saito, the representative of the Japanese de facto embassy, to lodge a protest against comments he made at an academic forum in Chiayi County on Friday when he said Taiwan’s status remains “unresolved.”

A Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ press release said that during the meeting, Saito apologized for his remarks and said his comments were his own opinion and did not represent the view of his government.

REFRAIN

The ministry also said Saito had promised to refrain from making similar comments in the future.

Reporters were not allowed to attend the meeting between Hsia and Saito.

When asked by the Taipei Times for a transcript of the meeting, ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said there was none and that the public “needs to trust the government.”

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and independence supporters, however, said Saito had nothing to apologize for because he had merely told the truth.

SUPPORT

DPP Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) visited the ministry with seven colleagues yesterday to show their support for Saito.

Chai challenged Lin to an open debate on the issue, as Lin has said it was an indisputable fact that the territory of the Republic of China includes Taiwan, and Interchange Association President Atsushi Hatakenaka has suggested to Taiwan’s representative to Japan that Saito’s comments did not represent that of the Japanese government.

The spokesman said the incident had not affected Taiwan-Japan relations.

This is the second time Taiwan-Japan ties have been tested since the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) returned to power in May last year.

In June last year, Japan apologized to Taiwan after a coast guard patrol vessel sank a Taiwanese fishing boat around the disputed waters off the Diaoyuatai.
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