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.
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