To mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the Taiwan National Alliance (TNA) will stage a parade in Taipei this afternoon, in the hope of letting the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government and the international community know that “Taiwan does not belong to China.”
Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty with 48 UN member countries represented in a meeting in San Francisco on Sept. 8, 1951. In the treaty, Japan declared that it would give up its claims to Taiwan, Penghu and all its other offshore islands.
The treaty has weight in international law, and it does not say to which party Japan ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores, TNA spokesperson Yao Chia-wen (姚嘉文) said, meaning Taiwan is not part of China and Taiwanese have the right to establish their own country.
While the KMT maintains that the 1943 Cairo Communique said that “all territories Japan had won from China, such as Manchuria [Dongbei], Formosa [Taiwan] and the Pescadores [Penghu], shall be restored to the Republic of China,” pro-localization groups in Taiwan say that the communique was not binding under international law because it was only a wartime news communique.
Yao said that he hoped the parade today would be able to tell people, at home and abroad, that the sovereignty of Taiwan belonged to Taiwanese.
The parade will gather in front of the Wanhua Train Station in Taipei at 1:30pm, and start out at 2:28pm, Yao said. The destination of the march is Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office.
Translated by Jake Chung, Staff Writer
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,