The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reasserted Taiwan’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the disputed East China Sea, after the Japanese government expedited a plan to include Japan’s territorial claims over the island chain in its school curriculum.
The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology on Tuesday announced that it is moving up implementation of its “national territory education” curriculum from 2022 to next year, according to a Kyodo News report.
Japanese high-school students are to be taught about the legitimacy of Japan’s territorial claims over several disputed islands, including Diaoyutai, as well as islets in the Sea of Japan known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
Photo: Reuters
“The government has maintained a consistent stance on the issue, which is that the Diaoyutai Islands are part of the Republic of China’s territory,” ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said in a press release.
The reality that Taiwan enjoys sovereignty over the archipelago is not going to be changed by any country’s decision to categorize it as their own territory in school textbooks, Lee said.
The Taiwanese government has always advocated for a peaceful solution to territorial disputes to avoid situations in which a concerned party’s unilateral actions lead to heightened tensions in the region, Lee said.
The Diaoyutais, about 120 nautical miles (222.2km) northeast of Taipei, are also claimed by China.
To prevent tensions in the region from escalating, then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2012 proposed the East China Sea peace initiative while visiting Pengjia Islet (彭佳嶼), about 56km north of Taiwan proper.
The initiative calls for all parties to take action to reduce tensions, abide by international law, ensure the freedom of navigation and overflight, and seek a peaceful resolution to disputes.
After taking office in 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has adopted a similar approach, reiterating Taiwan’s sovereignty over Diaoyutais while calling for a peaceful resolution to territorial disputes.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
An SOS message in a bottle has been found in Ireland that is believed to have come from the Taiwanese captain of fishing vessel Yong Yu Sing No. 18 (永裕興18號), who has been missing without a trace for over four years, along with nine Indonesian crew members. The vessel, registered to Suao (蘇澳), went missing near Hawaii on Dec. 30, 2020. The ship has since been recovered, but the 10 crew members have never been found. The captain, surnamed Lee (李), is believed to have signed the note with his name. A post appeared on Reddit on Tuesday after a man
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
RSS