President-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday reiterated the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) stance that Taiwan has sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkakus in Japan, following former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) assertion in his new book that “the Diaoyutais do not belong to Taiwan.”
“The DPP’s stance has always been clear: The Diaoyutais belong to Taiwan,” Tsai said on the sidelines of a conference held for DPP lawmakers to prepare them for the upcoming legislative session.
Tsai was responding to a section in Lee’s latest book, Last Days: My Life’s Journey and the Roadmap of Taiwan’s Democratization, in which he writes that although fishermen from both Taiwan and Japan have traditionally fished in the waters surrounding the islands, “the Diaoyutais do not belong to Taiwan.”
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Along with Okinawa, the islands were returned to Japan in 1972 when US occupation ended, Lee wrote.
He said that in 1972, when studying for his doctorate at Harvard University, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was the first person to claim that the Republic of China (ROC) had sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
“When the DPP came to power in 2000, the third premier of the DPP administration, Yu Shyi-kun, who belonged to [former] president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) faction, placed the Diaoyutais under the jurisdiction of Toucheng Township (頭城) in his native Yilan County,” Lee wrote. “There is nothing more foolish than this; not only the Chinese, but also the Taiwanese government is deceiving the people.”
Separately, Yu said on Facebook that he was serving as a Taiwan provincial councilor in the early 1980s the first time he heard the statement that the “Diaoyutai Islands are the territory of the ROC,” and that it was Lee himself who told him, in his then-role as a provincial governor.
“Also, the Diaoyutais were placed under the jurisdiction of Yilan County in 1973, not during my term as premier,” Yu said.
At the conference, Tsai again reminded all DPP lawmakers to bear in mind the people’s expectations of the party, to stick to the party’s policy platforms raised during the presidential and legislative campaigns and to work hard to monitor the government before the presidential inauguration on May 20.
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
RSS