The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called on the Japanese government and Japanese politicians to face up to the facts of history and to learn lessons from the past rather than engage in acts that hurt the feelings of the people of neighboring countries.
In response to a visit to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese Minister of Internal Affairs Yoshitaka Shindo and Japan’s National Public Safety Commission Chairman Keiji Furuya yesterday, the anniversary of Japan’s World War II defeat, the ministry in Taipei issued a very short statement of just one paragraph.
“The government of the Republic of China hopes that the Japanese government and its politicians will develop friendly relations with neighboring countries, with visionary thinking and a responsible attitude,” the ministry said in the statement.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters
Separately yesterday, several dozens of people set a model paper Izumo-class ship on fire in protest against Japan’s claim to sovereignty over the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkakus in Japan, outside the building of the Interchange Association, Japan, in Taipei.
Last week, Japan launched its largest military ship since World War II, the 19,500-tonne Izumo, at a ceremony in Yokohama.
The destroyer, which will be helicopter-equipped, will be deployed by the Maritime Self-Defense Force in March 2015.
Chang Chun-hong (張俊宏), a former lawmaker of the Democratic Progressive Party who now leads an alliance calling on Japan to return the Diaoyutai Islands to Taiwan, said it would be “a declaration of war against China” when Japan launches the destroyer for a maiden run and “the Diaoyutai Islands would become the battlefield.”
The destroyer symbolizes Japanese imperialism and is a provocative act that threatens peace and stability in East Asia, Chang said.
“Only when Japan returns the Diaoyutai Islands to Taiwan can peace be sustained,” he said.
Chang filed a lawsuit for conversion and tort against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over the issue of the Diaoyutai Islands in the Yilan District Court in June, seeking NT$2 million (US$66,749) in compensation.
Yilan District Court on Wednesday decided to dismiss the case, while Chang said yesterday that he did not rule out the possibility of suing Abe in Japan over the matter.
A former DPP lawmaker Payen Talu, an Aborigine of Atayal tribe, said that the Diaoyutai Islands were traditional territory of Kuvalan tribe, urging Japan to give back the islands to Taiwan’s indigenous people who occupied the land long before the islands were discovered by China and Japan.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
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,”
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