Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) yesterday said that Taiwan and Japan have agreed to begin negotiations over the issue of Taiwanese “comfort women,” adding that he is confident the talks could yield positive outcomes.
Lin said Taipei and Tokyo have established a communication platform to discuss the thorny issue of women forced into prostitution during World War II.
“Discussions are to be conducted between Representative to Japan Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) and Interchange Association Japan President Tadashi Imai in Tokyo, and between Association of East Asian Relations Secretary-General Chang Jen-joe (張仁久) and the Interchange Association Japan’s Taipei Office Secretary-General Takashi Hamada in Taipei,” Lin said.
The Japanese government has agreed to initiate negotiations after New Year’s Eve today, presumably to start early next month, Lin said, adding that he believes positive progresses would be made during the talks.
Lin said a working group is to meet on Wednesday next week to discuss the matter.
It is to be attended by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee and the Ministry of Health and Welfare, as well as representatives of the Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation and former Taiwanese comfort women, Lin said.
The minister’s comments came on the heels of a landmark deal reached between Japan and South Korea in Seoul, according to which Japan agreed to apologize and give about ￥1 billion (US$8.3 million) to a foundation set up by the South Korean government to benefit former comfort women.
The agreement has prompted the Presidential Office to demand that the treatment also be extended to Taiwanese affected by the issue — about 2,000 people, according to a Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation estimate.
Lin said the government has been dealing with the comfort women issue for more than two decades, but its stance has been consistent and unchanged: that Japan apologize and compensate Taiwanese women forced to work as wartime sex slaves.
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