Japan's prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, came under fire yesterday from politicians and press for continuing with a game of golf after hearing a US nuclear submarine had struck and sunk a Japanese trawler packed with students.
"I don't know how the prime minister first heard of it, but I think he should have stopped playing golf immediately and returned to his office," Takenori Kanzaki, leader of the New Komeito party and the key partner in Mori's ruling coalition, told a television talkshow.
Tanzaki's was not a lone voice.
Most major newspapers carried front-page stories and editorials attacking Japan's most unpopular prime minister in years for his decision to finish a round of gold on Saturday morning after he heard that the Japanese trawler had sunk off Hawaii.
Nine people, including four 17-year-old students from a fisheries school, were still missing yesterday more than 24 hours after the 6,900-tonne US nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville surfaced and struck the 499-tonne Ehime Maru off Hawaii.
Mori insisted his decision had been correct, saying it would not do to get flustered in moments of crisis.
"It would not get any of us anywhere if I rushed to [the prime minister's official residence] and got all flustered, without receiving reports," Mori told reporters on Saturday.
"We took the safest course of action."
Mori, who had been playing golf at a country club near Yokohama received word of the accident at around 10:30am and left for Tokyo shortly before 1pm.
"Prime Minister waits four hours" screamed the headline on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
Newspapers leapt on Mori's decision, quoting defense experts and political analysts as saying the prime minister took too long to grasp the gravity of the situation.
The timing could hardly be worse. A survey of voters by the daily Mainichi Shimbun last week showed support for Mori, battered by scandals that have felled three Cabinet ministers and his reputation for blunders, at a mere 14 percent.
Meanwhile yesterday Japan urged the US yesterday to consider raising the Ehime Maru.
Search vessels and helicopters continued scouring the choppy seas despite fading hopes of finding the nine still missing from the boat.
"The first priority is the rescue of the nine missing people," Mori told reporters.
Search vessels and helicopters continued scouring the choppy seas despite fading hopes.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
EMBRACING TAIWAN: US lawmakers have introduced an act aiming to replace the use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ with ‘Taiwan’ across all Washington’s federal agencies A group of US House of Representatives lawmakers has introduced legislation to replace the term “Chinese Taipei” with “Taiwan” across all federal agencies. US Representative Byron Donalds announced the introduction of the “America supports Taiwan act,” which would mandate federal agencies adopt “Taiwan” in place of “Chinese Taipei,” a news release on his page on the US House of Representatives’ Web site said. US representatives Mike Collins, Barry Moore and Tom Tiffany are cosponsors of the legislation, US political newspaper The Hill reported yesterday. “The legislation is a push to normalize the position of Taiwan as an autonomous country, although the official US
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts
RSS