Taiwan yesterday protested a Japanese city’s decision to change the name of an administrative area that covers the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).
Known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The Ishigaki Municipal Assembly yesterday passed a bill to change the islands’ administrative name from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku,” despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ assertion of Taiwanese sovereignty over the islands on multiple occasions following media reports about the Japanese proposal earlier this month.
Photo: AFP
Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama said at the time that Japan hoped to rename the islands because China frequently dispatched vessels to waters around the islands, and even expelled Japanese fishing vessels in the area.
The Presidential Office said that any unilateral move would not change the fact that the Diaoyutais belongs to the Republic of China (ROC), adding that any unilateral action was unhelpful to resolving the matter.
The Taiwanese government, which has long asserted sovereignty over the islands, would continue to resort to peaceful and rational means when it comes to sovereignty disputes, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Japan should exercise rationality and restrain itself from interfering with Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands, otherwise friendship between the two nations, as well as regional stability in the East China Sea, could be affected, it said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also condemned the council’s move, saying the Diaoyutais are ROC territory and the nation would not give up even “an inch” of its sovereignty.
Japan’s move infringes on the nation’s territory, sovereignty and fishing rights, the KMT said, calling on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) not to overlook Japan’s action.
Protection of the nation’s sovereignty and fishing rights are the will and consensus of Taiwanese, it said, adding that Taiwan must not allow its sovereignty to be “eroded little by little.”
KMT headquarters urged the Tsai administration to immediately summon Japan’s representative to Taiwan to express its solemn protest, and to propose a counterplan to “maintain the integrity of the nation’s territory, sovereignty and fishing rights.”
The KMT caucus also urged Tsai to visit the Diaoyutais to assert the nation’s sovereign claim to the islands.
In Taiwan, the Diaoyutais fall under the jurisdiction of Toucheng Township (頭城) in Yilan County, which earlier this month passed a resolution to submit a proposal to the Ministry of the Interior to change the name of the islands to Toucheng Township Diaoyutai (頭城釣魚台).”
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) expressed regret over Japan’s decision to change the islands’ name.
Asked whether she would visit the islands and put up house number plates there, as she had proposed before as a way to assert Taiwan’s sovereignty, Lin said: “As it is a matter of great importance, more discussion is needed.”
The county government said it has sent an official letter to the Ministry of the Interior, urging it to respect regional opinions by officially renaming the Diaoyutais “Toucheng Township Diaoyutai.”
Suao Fishermen’s Association head Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生) said that fishers from Yilan’s Suao Township (蘇澳) had voiced concern about their fishing rights in waters near the islands, as the area is an important fishing ground.
The area has plenty of fishing resources, including black tuna, sharks, marlin and mahi-mahi, making it a hotly contested asset by countries surrounding it, he said.
Saying he advocates “setting disputes aside, jointly developing the area and sharing the resources,” Chen urged the Tsai administration to mediate the sovereignty dispute.
Asked if he would form a protest flotilla to the islands, Chen said he would invite fishers for further discussions.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao,Su Yung-yao,Chang Yi-chen,Chiang Chih-hsiung and CNA
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
HIGH-TECH DEAL: Chipmakers that expand in the US would be able to import up to 2.5 times their new capacity with no extra tariffs during an approved construction period Taiwan aims to build a “democratic” high-tech supply chain with the US and form a strategic artificial intelligence (AI) partnership under the new tariffs deal it sealed with Washington last week, Taipei’s top negotiator in the talks said yesterday. US President Donald Trump has pushed Taiwan, a major producer of semiconductors which runs a large trade surplus with the US, to invest more in the US, specifically in chips that power AI. Under the terms of the long-negotiated deal, chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) that expand US production would incur a lower tariff on semiconductors or related manufacturing
RSS