Thu, Jan 02, 2003 page4

• Taiwan affirms Tiaoyutai claim

  DISPUTED TERRITORY The Japanese government has taken out a lease on three islands which have long been at the center of an argument involving three countries

  • By Tsai Ting-I / STAFF REPORTER WITH AGENCIES
  • • 
    • 
    • 

  The Executive Yuan yesterday reiterated that the disputed Tiaoyutai Islands belong to Taiwan, saying that the claim will not change regardless of any actions taken by any foreign government or organizations. In so doing, the Executive Yuan stressed that it opposed moves by the Japanese government to lease three of the eight islands from a private owner.

  "The presidents and premiers of the ROC have declared on numerous occasions that the Tiaoyutais are part of the ROC territory," Cabinet spokesman Chuang Shuo-han (莊碩漢) said.

  "This claim will not change simply because of any actions taken by a foreign government or a foreign organization," Chuang stressed.

  Yesterday Yomiuri Shimbun, one of Japan's leading dailies, reported that Japan has leased three uninhabited islands off its southwestern coast from a private owner in a bid to strengthen its position in a territorial dispute with China and Taiwan.

  Chuang said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would invesitgate the report before deciding whether to adopt any measures in response.

  The three tiny islands are among the eight uninhabited Tiaoyutai Islands (known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan), which are located 220km northeast of Taiwan. They are claimed by China, Japan and Taiwan. The eight islands are listed as five islands and three reefs in Japan.

  Taiwan currently lists them as under the jurisdiction of the county of Ilan with the postal code area 290.

  By leasing the disputed islands, the Japanese government hopes to secure its hold over their rich fishing grounds and the oil deposits which may exist in the area.

  "The Senkaku islands are an integral part of Japanese territory. We'll stick to this position firmly," a Japanese government source told the Yomiuri.

  As a leaseholder paying ?22 million a year, the Japanese government may be able to prevent the owner, described as a man who lives outside Okinawa, from selling the islands of Kita-kojima (北小島), Minami-kojima (南小島) and Uotsurishima (魚釣島), the paper said. Japan also wants to block ships from landing and to prevent any structures being set up on the islands.

  The lease contract runs between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2003, according to Japan's Public Management Ministry. The ministry plans to renew the lease annually, the Yomiuri said.

  According to Taiwan's official historical records, the islands have been listed as part of China's territory since 1402, during the Ming Dynasty. China, however, ceded the eight islands and Taiwan to Japan in 1895, after China's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war.

  Under the 1943 Cairo agreement between US President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Taiwan and the Tiaoyutais were to be officially returned to the ROC at the end of World War II in 1945.

  Japanese right-wingers built a lighthouse on Uotsurishima in 1978 and another on Kita-kojima in 1996, sparking protests from Japan's neighbors, who have bitter memories of its colonization of the region before and during World War II.

  No one was available for comment at the Japanese ministry on yesterday, which was a public holiday in Japan.
• Most Popular

  • 1

    Taobao fined over ads, risks losing license: ministry

  • 2

    Taiwan, Tuvalu sign agreements on labor cooperation

  • 3

    HK, Macau residency rules tightened

  • 4

    Bukele proposes prisoner swap with Maduro

  • 5

    Mexican baseball’s growth starting to rival soccer clubs