Taiwan will closely monitor Chinese leader Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) upcoming visit to Japan, said the nation’s representative to Tokyo yesterday, adding that president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) request to visit Japan prior to his inauguration next month is unlikely to happen.
In his report to the legislature, representative Koh Se-kai (許世楷) said Taiwan would keep a close tab on Hu’s trip to Japan from May 6 to May 11 to ascertain whether Taiwan’s status is mentioned during the visit.
Koh, a leading authority on Japanese politics, said China has been asking Japan to sign a fourth communique; stating that Japan agrees Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China, which Tokyo has long refused to do.
Since Japan and Taiwan severed formal ties more than 30 years ago, Japan has never stated they support the “one China” policy. The Japanese position is that they “acknowledge” and “respect” China’s position on the issue of Taiwan, Koh said.
He added that on several occasions, top ranking Japanese officials, including Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda last December, have publicly repeated that in Japan, the phrase “not support” and “oppose” have vastly different meanings.
On the issue of Taiwan’s bid to become a full member of the UN and its subsidiaries under the name “Taiwan,” Tokyo has always stated that it “does not support” but never that it “opposes” such moves, Fukuda said at a press conference during his trip to China in December.
When asked about the possibility of Ma visiting Japan prior to his May 20 inauguration, Koh said such a trip was unlikely to happen because the dates are too close to the time of Hu’s visit.
Some Japanese politicians and academics have reportedly been worried about Taiwan-Japan relations under Ma’s leadership because of the KMT’s past anti-Japanese sentiment.
Ma tried to assuage those fears by publicly touting Taiwan-Japan ties and even expressed his wish to visit Japan prior taking office.
“When the Japanese tell me about their worries about bilateral ties under Ma’s administration, I tell them that some people in Taiwan are also worried about warming relations between China and Japan,” Koh said.
The representative, however, offered assurances that despite Japan’s own unstable political climate, Taiwan-Japan ties should continue to remain strong and friendly.
So far 30 Japanese dignitaries, including retired officials, incumbent government leaders and those from cultural circles have been invited to Ma’s inauguration ceremony.
The incumbent Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, who is known for his Taiwan-friendly stance, will most likely be part of the delegation, Koh said.
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
Lawmakers from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday established a friendship group with their counterparts in Ukraine to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries. A ceremony in Taipei for the Taiwan-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Association, initiated by DPP Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷), was attended by lawmakers and officials, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) and European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan Director Lutz Gullner. The increasingly dire situation in Ukraine is a global concern, and Taiwan cannot turn its back when the latter is in need of help, as the two countries share many common values and interests,
RSS