Following moves made by Japan and China to name islets belonging to the controversial Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台列嶼), the government yesterday issued a statement reiterating Taiwan’s sovereignty over the region.
Historical fact and international law indicate that the Diaoyutai Islands belong to the Republic of China (ROC), Government Information Office Minister Philip Yang (楊永明) said in a statement, adding that the government did not recognize Japan’s naming of the islands or any claim to sovereignty, or actions taken concerning the islands by “any other party.”
China’s Xinhua news agency yesterday reported that the Chinese State Oceanic Administration has also released names for islands in the disputed chain, which it numbered at 70, the main one being Diaoyu Island (釣魚島).
When asked by the press why the Taiwanese government had not responded to China’s move in the same way as it had to Japan’s assertion of sovereignty, Yang said the phrase “any other party” included China.
Yesterday, Japan published the official names of 39 uninhabited islands, including ones near Hokkaido and four in the Diaoyutai Islands — or Senkaku in Japanese — in the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
Three years ago, Japan designated 99 islets as key points mapping out its exclusive economic zone.
Of the 39 islands, three islets adjacent to Huangwei Islet (黃尾嶼), as well as another close to Chiwei Islet (赤尾嶼) are claimed both by Taipei and Beijing as part of the Diaoyutai Islands.
Japan has been working to name the 39 islands since May last year, when it named 10 out of the 49 islands with no official names on maps. The other 50 had already been named.
In addition to the statement, Taiwan’s outgoing representative to Japan, John Feng (馮寄台), lodged a protest in Tokyo over the move, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson James Chang (章計平) said yesterday.
The protest filed by Feng with Japan’s Interchange Association Chairman Hatakenaka Atsushi was the fourth such complaint since the plan to name the islands was made public in November last year.
Feng reiterated the government’s position regarding the Diaoyutais and urged Japan to refrain from damaging relations between the two countries, Chang said.
“We called on the Japanese government to settle the disputes surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands in a peaceful and rational way so as not to cause misunderstandings,” he said.
He added that the ministry did not file a complaint with the Chinese government, because China-related affairs fall under the purview of the Mainland Affairs Council.
However, MAC spokesperson Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said a consensus had been reached at an inter-ministerial meeting held yesterday that the Minister of the Interior would deal with the matter.
Minister of the Interior Lee Hong-yuan (李鴻源) said any action taken by other claimants did not change the fact that Diaoyutai Island was the territory of the ROC and had no impact on the government’s determination to safeguard the country’s sovereignty.
The government had no plans to name the islands, the ministry said.
Additional reporting by AFP
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard