President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday shunned issues relating to the contested Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) during his meeting with former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe arrived in Taipei yesterday on the inaugural flight from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to Taipei International Airport (Songshan). Eyes were on his meeting with Ma and whether they would touch on issues related to the island chain in the East China Sea claimed by China, Taiwan and Japan.
During a trip to the US earlier last month, Abe used a Nazi-era term to accuse China of pursing a modern-day policy of lebensraum with its growing assertiveness over disputed territories.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Lebensraum, or “living space,” was a key tenet in the philosophy of Adolf Hitler who believed that Germany deserved space, especially in eastern Slavic areas, in which to grow.
Beijing and Tokyo have been embroiled in a bruising diplomatic row since early September, when Japanese authorities arrested the captain of a fishing trawler near the islets known as Diaoyutais in Taiwan and China and Senkaku in Japan. The Ma government said earlier this month that there was no need to object to China’s territorial claim to the -Diaoyutais since the -Republic of China (ROC) -Constitution states that China is still considered a territory of the ROC on Taiwan. This prompted concerns from Japanese officials over the political implications of this interpretation.
Ma avoided the contentious issue yesterday and instead focused on the resumption of direct flights between Taipei and Tokyo.
Describing Abe as “the ROC’s best friend,” Ma said Abe was the third generation of his family to have close ties with the ROC.
The resumption of flights between Songshan and Haneda was an important indication of improved Taiwan-Japan relations over the past two years, Ma said.
Aside from paying a visit to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), Abe also visited the Martyrs’ Shrine (忠烈祠) where people who died in the state’s service are enshrined.
When asked by the press why he chose to pay a visit to the shrine, Abe said through a translator that people who sacrificed their lives for their country all deserved to be honored. When further pressed by the reporters whether he knew the shrine also honored anti-Japan martyrs, Abe did not answer as the accompanied translator did not translate the question.
Lee affirmed Abe’s shrine visit, saying it was a show of respect for the country.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND STAFF
writer
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the