The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday reiterated its unwavering stance on the issue of “comfort women,” after Japan expressed “extreme disappointment” over the installation of Taiwan’s first bronze statue honoring comfort women in Tainan.
“The government has always paid close attention to the issue of comfort women. Our stance on the matter, as well as our policy to fight for their dignity, remains unchanged,” ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said in a news release, adding that negotiations with Japan on the matter would continue.
The government did not play a part in the erection of the statue by a civic group in Tainan on Tuesday to mark International Comfort Women Day, Lee added.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Tainan mayoral candidate Kao Su-po
The ministry’s remarks came just hours after Japan Broadcasting Corp (NHK) reported that Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga lamented the statue’s installation during a news conference after a Cabinet meeting in Japan.
“The establishment and exhibition of comfort women statues in various parts of the world is extremely disappointing, as it is not compatible with the position and efforts of the Japanese government so far,” Suga was quoted by the NHK as saying.
The statue in Tainan, which stands on an open space next to the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Tainan chapter office, was erected by the non-profit Tainan Association for Comfort Women’s Rights, with assistance from the KMT.
Some Japanese media have speculated that the move was motivated by Taiwan’s nine-in-one elections in November, and was part of the KMT’s efforts to criticize the generally friendly stance of the Democratic Progressive Party administration toward Japan.
The Taipei Women’s Rescue Foundation estimates that about 2,000 Taiwanese women were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
The Asian Women’s Fund — a quasi-public organization established by the Japanese government in 1995 to address the issue through “atonement” projects, before dissolving it in 2007 — had tried to offer Taiwanese victims compensation of ￥2 million (US$18,014 at the current exchange rate) per person and a letter of apology.
However, some Taiwanese victims refused to accept the money as they felt it did not show that the Japanese government was taking responsibility for their actions.
The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association in Taipei yesterday declined to comment on the matter, saying only that the Japanese government had tried to address the issue through various measures taken by the Asian Women’s Fund.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
RSS