Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (
Shu immediately came under fire at home for the visit where he was accused of dignifying Japan's militarism in the early 20th century.
Shu, dressed in a business suit, was cheered on by supporters who unfurled the flags of Japan and his party as he entered the Yasukuni shrine which is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals.
PHOTO: CHANG MAO-SANG, TAIPEI TIMES
He called on Asians to "move beyond the grudges and animosity of the past."
"As one Taiwanese and as a leader of a political party I have come here to pay my respect to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for Japan," Shu said.
"At the same time, as one Taiwanese, I have come here to pay my respect for 28,000 Taiwanese," whose names are enshrined, he said.
Supporters said it was the first known visit to Yasukuni in modern times by a party leader from Taiwan, which was ruled by Japan from 1895 to 1945.
Pilgrimages by Asian leaders are extremely rare to the Shinto shrine in central Tokyo, although military envoys and attaches from countries in other regions have often paid visits.
China has refused any bilateral visits with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi over his visits to the shrine.
"Chinese thinking and perspectives don't represent those in Asia. And more so, they don't reflect the views of Taiwan," Shu said. "As a Taiwanese, I don't agree that China still harbors a grudge."
"I wanted to stress this point that the way every nation mourns its war dead should be respected," he said.
The Yasukuni shrine controversially lists the names of 28,000 Taiwanese and 21,000 Korean soldiers, most of whom were forced into service under Japan's colonial rule.
The holy site also lists the names of Japanese civilians who died in fighting.
The populist Koizumi has visited the shrine four times since August 2001, saying he has the right as a Japanese person to choose how to honor the dead.
His visits have triggered furious protests from China and South Korea and led to a string of unsuccessful lawsuits by Asians bereaved in World War II who accused Koizumi of causing them emotional distress.
In Taipei, Aboriginal legislator Kao-Chin Su-mei (
"Japan launched over 160 battles to destroy Taiwan's Aboriginal tribes during its 51-year colony on the island," he said in a statement.
"We strongly protest the TSU visiting the Yasukuni Shrine," he said. "It is already an insult to Taiwan's Aboriginal people that our soldiers were enshrined there."
TSU spokesman Chen Chien-ming (
"We do not agree with the acts and invasions of the Japanese militarism [during World War II] but we should not let hatred persist," Chen said in Taipei.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS