Beijing warned that Japan might be barred from participating in a major high speed railway project in China shortly after former president Lee Teng-hui (
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei (
Praising the high quality of the Shinkansen, or Japanese bullet train, Wu nevertheless said Beijing might have to exclude Japan from the Beijing-Shanghai railway project, which Japan, Germany and France have competed for fiercely over the past few years.
"We are facing high anti-Japan sentiment in China. If our government adopts the Shinkansen technique in the railway project, people would have [negative] opinions," Wu said.
Xu Jialu (
"The current relations between China and Japan make it hard for us to adopt the Shinkansen technique in building the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway," Xu said.
Beijing's warning to Japan over the railway project, which came a day after Lee arrived in the Japanese city of Nagoya Monday, is viewed as retaliation against Japan's decision to issue Lee a visa despite China's repeated protests.
Calling Lee a mastermind of Taiwan's "independence forces," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said before Lee's trip that Beijing might retaliate against Tokyo if it allowed Lee's visit.
On Wednesday, Lee and his family traveled by train from Nagoya to Kanazawa, a historic castle town by the Sea of Japan. He visited a museum in honor of prestigious local figures and suggested that the museum should display more documents and items related to Yoichi Hatta, an engineer from Kanazawa who led a huge farm irrigation project in Taiwan when it was under Japanese rule from 1895 to 1945, Japanese media reported.
Later in the day, Lee met Ohi Chozaemon, a 77-year-old traditional ceramic artist, and made a ceramic mug for his good friend Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara. According to media reports, Lee wrote the Chinese character "Sincerity" (
Lee and his family toured downtown Kanazawa yesterday morning and returned to Nagoya in the afternoon.
Lee is scheduled to visit another ancient city, Kyoto in western Japan, before flying back to Taipei from Osaka on Sunday.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
RESILIENCE: Deepening bilateral cooperation would extend the peace sustained over the 45 years since the Taiwan Relations Act, Greene said Taiwan-US relations are built on deep economic ties and shared values, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Raymond Greene said yesterday, adding that strengthening supply chain security in critical industries, enhancing societal resilience through cooperation and deepening partnerships are key to ensuring peace and stability for Taiwan in the years ahead. Greene made the remarks at the National Security Youth Forum, organized by National Taiwan University’s National Security and Strategy Studies Institution in Taipei. In his address in Mandarin Chinese, Greene said the Taiwan-US relationship is built on deep economic ties and shared interests, and grows stronger through the enduring friendship between
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS