Dozens of advocates of Taiwanese independence on Tuesday cheered as Taiwanese and Japanese representatives unveiled a new doorplate that many believe represents a significant milestone in Taipei-Tokyo ties that could pave the way for more formal diplomatic relations.
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association on Sunday changed its name from the Interchange Association, Japan, a move that gave Taiwanese a morale boost amid perpetual international predicaments and fear of losing more diplomatic allies to Beijing.
There have been calls for a name change for the association and its Taiwanese counterpart, the Association of East Asian Relations, since Japan severed ties with Taiwan and switched recognition to China in 1972. One of the main reasons is that the two associations’ appellations are hardly indicative of their functions.
Despite their ambiguous names, the two associations have served as their respective governments’ “white gloves,” or front agencies, in maintaining Taipei-Tokyo ties without direct official contact. They are similar to Taiwan’s Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, two semi-official agencies established in 1991 to handle cross-strait affairs.
In December 1972, the Interchange Association, Japan and the Association of East Asian Relations inked an agreement to lay the foundation for the mutual establishment of representative offices to promote bilateral exchanges in trade, academia, technology, culture and sports.
The Interchange Association’s Taipei office has served as Japan’s de facto embassy, while the Association of East Asian Relations’ Tokyo branch, which in 1992 changed its name to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan, serves as Taipei’s de facto embassy.
The name change is a positive sign. Some analysts have said a growing Taiwanese identity, which was far less prominent in 1972, is the primary factor prompting Tokyo to include “Taiwan” in the association’s name.
They also regard it as an indication that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to handle Taiwan-Japan ties as a state-to-state relationship.
However, the public must not be overly optimistic about the name change.
The Japanese association remains a “public interest organization” on the surface and has not been upgraded to an embassy, which means no substantial changes are likely to be made to the nature of Taiwan-Japan relations or how they are maintained.
Recent provocative actions by the Chinese military — including having its sole carrier, the Liaoning, pass through Japan’s strategically important Miyako Strait last month — have unnerved Tokyo.
Against such a backdrop, the name change could merely be Japan’s attempt to align with neighboring countries to contain China. An alternative possibility is that Tokyo is picking China’s sore spot in order to leverage Taiwan and keep Beijing at bay.
At a time when President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration is facing fierce protests against its plan to relax an import ban on food products from five Japanese prefectures the name change could help assuage opposition and in turn help remove one of the greatest hurdles in Taiwan-Japan ties.
Regardless of which factors prompted Japanese authorities to approve the name change, there is no denying that relations between Taiwan and Japan have significantly improved in the past few decades, particularly in terms of private exchanges.
Nevertheless, seeing these warming bilateral ties transform into a more formal diplomatic relationship seems like a far-fetched dream. One should be cautiously optimistic and not get carried away over a single friendly gesture.
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