The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) should re-examine its “Japan-friendly” position over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) controversy and former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) made a mistake in publicly saying that the islands belong to Japan, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said yesterday.
The outspoken Lu also warned that Taiwan should never underestimate the dispute and the islands’ strategic implication, saying that if Beijing took over the Diaoyutais, its next annexation target could be Taiwan.
The DPP has always been a pro-Japan party, but the party has been “too pro-Japan” in the dispute and it is time for it to review its Japan policy, Lu told a “China Watch” forum organized by her office.
Regarding the comments made by Lee that the sovereignty of the islands — known as the Senkakus in Japan — lay with Tokyo, Lu said Lee “should not have made the remark publicly as a former president who served for 12 years, even if that is his opinion.”
Lu said Taiwan should assert its claim to the Diaoyutais based on facts from recent history — such as the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 — rather than by referring to vague documents from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) twice rejected then-US president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s suggestion to take over the Ryukyu Islands and the Diaoyutais when Chiang, Roosevelt and then-British prime minister Winston Churchill met in Cairo, Egypt, for post-World War II negotiations in 1943, Lu said.
The most important question in the territorial fight over the Diaoyutais between Taiwan, Japan and China was whether the islands were ceded by the Qing Dynasty to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Lu said.
If they were, she said, the condition would apply to Article 2 of the San Francisco Treaty, which stated that “Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.”
If they were not, then the islands would be seen as part of the Nansei Shoto, or the Ryukyus, which were placed under UN trusteeship with the US as their sole administering authority as stated in Article 3, she added.
Yilan County Councilor Lin Chyi-shan (林棋山) said the fishing grounds near the Diaoyutais produce about 60 percent of the catch in Nanfangao (南方澳), which was why the dispute has always been a issue about the livelihoods of locals.
Lin added that “only playing hardball worked for containing the Japanese,” who had treated Taiwanese fishing boats rudely, as he once gathered 60 boats in the region to challenge a Japanese vessel, which later retreated.
Ho Szu-shen (何思慎), a professor at Fu Jen Catholic University, said Taiwan should keep asserting its sovereignty, but should not collaborate with China on the matter.
Improved Taiwan-China relations would not be detrimental to Japan because Tokyo would try to limit China’s activity in the waters surrounding the Diaoyutais through Taiwan, Ho said.
Tamkang University professor Wong Ming-hsien (翁明賢) said Taiwan should try to assess its strategy under the framework of regional politics and the US’ “pivot to Asia” rather than the trilateral relations between Taiwan, China and Japan.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS