New Party Taipei city councilor candidates yesterday parked a statue of a “comfort woman” on the back of a truck outside the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s offices as they launched a series of events to demand an official apology from the Japanese government.
A group led by candidates Su Heng (蘇恆), Lin Ming-cheng (林明正) and Hou Han-ting (侯漢廷), as well as party spokesman Wang Ping-chung (王炳忠), placed the statue on the back of a small truck parked on Taipei’s Qingcheng Street, where the de facto embassy is.
“Placing the statue in front of the office has symbolic significance,” the party said in a statement. “It shows that women who were abused by the Japanese army can now stand up against its injustice and militarism with the support of fellow Taiwanese.”
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
While about 2,000 Taiwanese women are estimated to have been forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II, only two who have come forward with their stories are still alive.
Having accompanied one of the 2,000, Huang Wu Hsiu-mei (黃吳秀妹) — who passed away in 2012 aged 96 — to the office in a previous protest, Wang said the statue represents all the comfort women who cannot be there to testify to the history that the Japanese government has been trying to distort.
The trio were initially blocked by police when they tried to place the statue in the truck, which was in a cordoned-off area.
They were allowed to place the statue on the truck after assuring officers that only the three candidates would enter the area.
“The parking spot has been legally paid for and the statue is personal property. If the police barred it from being placed on the truck, it would be an offense against freedom,” the party said.
Despite the candidates’ participation in the Nov. 24 nine-in-one elections, the group did not display banners bearing party symbols or election slogans.
The protest was not about promoting the party, but about promoting “timeless humanitarian values,” the party said.
The three candidates said that, if elected, they would advocate having the statue permanently placed in front of the office.
They called on Taipei mayoral candidates to visit the statue and pay their respects to the women.
Placing the statue is only the beginning of a series of protests against the Japanese government, the party said, adding that it welcomes politicians and members of the public to visit the statue.
At 6:30pm today, a candlelight vigil is to be held in front of the office and a documentary about “comfort women” would be screened, the party said, adding that the candidates would speak.
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
88.2 PERCENT INCREASE: The variants driving the current outbreak are not causing more severe symptoms, but are ‘more contagious’ than previous variants, an expert said Number of COVID-19 cases in the nation is surging, with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) describing the ongoing wave of infections as “rapid and intense,” and projecting that the outbreak would continue through the end of July. A total of 19,097 outpatient and emergency visits related to COVID-19 were reported from May 11 to Saturday last week, an 88.2 percent increase from the previous week’s 10,149 visits, CDC data showed. The nearly 90 percent surge in case numbers also marks the sixth consecutive weekly increase, although the total remains below the 23,778 recorded during the same period last year,
RSS