The first international search-and-rescue team from Japan has arrived to help with efforts in Hualien after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck on Tuesday night, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Andrew Lee (李憲章) said yesterday.
“The government of Japan has answered our requests for aid and has sent a team of seven experts and two advanced scanners,” Lee said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wrote a personal letter to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) expressing the nation’s condolences over the earthquake and said that the Japanese team has been dispatched to help in the continuing search-and-rescue operation.
Screen grab from the Prime Minister of Japan ’s Facebook account
Officials from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Tokyo Fire Department, the Tokyo Police Department and the Japan Coast Guard’s Tokyo branch are also coming to Taiwan, Lee said, adding that two officials from the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association and the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association would accompany the group to facilitate communications.
The search-and-rescue team arrived at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 12:30pm and was flown directly to Hualien.
Lee thanked to the Japanese government on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for dispatching a professional team and its high-tech equipment in such a short time.
Screen grab from the Prime Minister of Japan ’s Facebook account
Japanese Minster of Foreign Affairs Taro Kono also telephoned Minster of Foreign Affairs David Lee (李大維) to express his concern and condolences.
As of 10am yesterday, representatives from 25 countries, including diplomatic allies the Holy See, Belize, Haiti, Nicaragua, Saint Lucia, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala, arrived in Taiwan to express their support and condolences.
Tsai thanked world leaders for their concern and condolences on her official social media sites.
Photo: AP
“Taiwan is grateful to the many offers of assistance & support coming from around the world. Although relief efforts in Hualien are sufficient, your warmth & kindness have been felt by people of Taiwan,” she wrote on Twitter.
Tsai also responded to Abe’s Facebook account, which offered condolences and showed a picture of his calligraphy.
“A true friend during such difficult times... Our friendship and values will be manifested with humanitarian aid,” Tsai tweeted in Japanese.
Netizens alleged that the original phrasing of Abe’s letter had been changed due to Chinese pressure.
The letter, posted on the Japanese Prime Minister Residence’s account, initially addressed Tsai as, “President,” but the title was dropped less than two hours later.
Content on site are considered official governmental documents.
Netizens praised Japan for “having the guts” to address Tsai by her official title, a source said.
Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association Department of General Affairs Director Michi Kakizawa said he was not sure why the letter was changed, adding that the association delivered the letter from “Prime Minister Abe to President Tsai.”
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
A total lunar eclipse, an astronomical event often referred to as a “blood moon,” would be visible to sky watchers in Taiwan starting just before midnight on Sunday night, the Taipei Astronomical Museum said. The phenomenon is also called “blood moon” due to the reddish-orange hue it takes on as the Earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, completely blocking direct sunlight from reaching the lunar surface. The only light is refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, and its red wavelengths are bent toward the moon, illuminating it in a dramatic crimson light. Describing the event as the most important astronomical phenomenon
UNDER PRESSURE: The report cited numerous events that have happened this year to show increased coercion from China, such as military drills and legal threats The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) aims to reinforce its “one China” principle and the idea that Taiwan belongs to the People’s Republic of China by hosting celebratory events this year for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the “retrocession” of Taiwan and the establishment of the UN, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said in its latest report to the Legislative Yuan. Taking advantage of the significant anniversaries, Chinese officials are attempting to assert China’s sovereignty over Taiwan through interviews with international news media and cross-strait exchange events, the report said. Beijing intends to reinforce its “one China” principle
The presence of Taiwanese politicians at China’s military parade tomorrow would send the wrong message to Beijing and the international community about Taiwan’s sovereignty and democracy, a national security official said yesterday. China is to hold the parade tomorrow to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. By bringing together leaders of “anti-West” governments such as Russia, North Korea, Iran and Belarus, the parade aims to project a symbolic image of an alliance that is cohesive and unbending against Western countries, the national security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu