The Yilan County Council yesterday passed a provisional motion recommending that the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) be renamed Toucheng Township Diaoyutai (頭城釣魚台).
The sovereignty controversy over the islands, which are claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China, resurfaced after Chinese Coast Guard vessels this week entered waters near the islands.
The county council’s motion — proposed by Yilan County Councilor Tsai Wen-yi (蔡文益), a Toucheng resident — followed plans by Ishigaki City Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama to change the name of the islands from the Senkaku Islands, as they are known in Japan, to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
The Yilan County councilors approved the motion with 29 votes.
To be held on June 22, the vote on Ishigaki’s plan is expected to pass, as Japan’s ruling party holds a majority on the Ishigaki City Council.
Yilan County Government Secretary-General Lin Mao-sheng (林茂盛) said that the county government would examine the issue and inform the council of how to implement the motion.
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tzu-miao (林姿妙) on Monday invited President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit the islands to “defend the islets’ sovereignty.”
Thanking Lin Tzu-miao for the invitation, Tsai Ing-wen responded that the central government would handle the issue in a manner that would observe Taiwanese claims of sovereignty while maintaining regional stability.
Lin Tzu-miao yesterday said that she is having a discussion about visiting the islands with fishers and the local fisheries association.
Prior to meeting with Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Jordan Reeves in Taipei yesterday, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun urged Japan to maintain the cordial relations between Taiwan and Japan, saying that they should work together in the face of Chinese threats, and set aside differences and jointly develop the area.
You called on Japan and Taiwan to remain calm over the issue, and to jointly promote events beneficial to Japan-Taiwan friendship and greater peace in the region.
Asked for comment on the issue, Executive Yuan spokesman Ting Yi-ming (丁怡銘) said yesterday that the Executive Yuan respects regional politics, while reasserting the nation’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands.
Tsai Ing-wen has called on claimants of the Diaoyutais to put aside their differences and jointly develop the disputed waters surrounding the islands, he said, adding that the government would continue to protect the rights of Taiwanese fishers to operate in the vicinity of the islands.
Additional reporting by Sean Lin
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday said that it would redesign the written portion of the driver’s license exam to make it more rigorous. “We hope that the exam can assess drivers’ understanding of traffic rules, particularly those who take the driver’s license test for the first time. In the past, drivers only needed to cram a book of test questions to pass the written exam,” Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told a news conference at the Taoyuan Motor Vehicle Office. “In the future, they would not be able to pass the test unless they study traffic regulations
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),
‘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