Rights advocacy groups demonstrated outside the Japanese representative office in Taipei yesterday morning as part of globally coordinated action to demand that the Japanese government apologize and pay compensation to those forced to serve as military comfort women during World War II.
Holding placards condemning Japanese politicians — including Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, Okasa Mayor Toru Hashimoto and Representative Shintaro Ishihara — for denying or playing down the comfort women issue, more than 100 demonstrators joined their partners in the US, Canada, Germany, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan in demanding that the Japanese government apologize and compensate women forced to serve in military brothels during World War II.
“We are here — as we have been in past years — to demand that the Japanese government formally apologize to and compensate comfort women,” Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said. “The Japanese government is both legally and morally responsible for the sexual exploitation.”
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
Kang said that as many as 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced to work in Japanese military brothels and that there are only six left alive — one of them is 92 years old, while the others are in their 80s.
“They have waited for all these years for an apology, how long do they still have to wait?” she asked.
Taiwan Women’s Link president Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said that forcing the women to suffer sexual exploitation and abuse was a war crime.
“You [the Japanese government] are wrong if you think the injustice will be buried with these former comfort women when they are all gone,” Huang said. “Generations of Taiwanese will continue to fight for justice for them, as long as we are still around.”
Labor Rights Association chairwoman Wang Chuan-ping (王娟萍) accused Japanese politicians who twist history of being accomplices in a war crime.
An official from the Japan Interchange Association’s General Affairs Department came out to receive the petition, but demonstrators questioned the sincerity of the office as it sent a lower-ranking official to receive the petition.
With the crowd chanting “apologize” and “representative, come out,” the association eventually sent Deputy Representative Yukuke Sami to receive the petition.
Three demands were listed in the petition — that the Japanese prime minister apologize to the comfort women on behalf of the Japanese government, with an endorsement from parliament; the Japanese government should recognize the fact that there were comfort women who were forced to work at military brothels and should never change its stance on the issue; and that Japan should have legislation prohibiting remarks that twist the facts about the comfort women.
The crowd vowed to return next year if the Japanese government fails to respond positively to the demands.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS