A Double Ten National Day greeting congratulating Taiwan apparently signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was obtained through a “local channel” in Fukuoka Prefecture and lacked official reference numbers, but it is not a fabricated document, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said yesterday.
The Fukoka branch of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka on Friday last week held a Double Ten National Day celebration and later posted photographs showing messages marking the Republic of China’s 108th anniversary with the signatures of Abe and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso.
However, when asked for comment by a Chinese reporter, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Naoki Okada on Monday said that Abe did not send the note, sparking controversy about the authenticity and source of the message.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
It would be a major breakthrough if Abe or Aso called the nation by its full name, but further investigation is needed to determine if diplomatic personnel released a message improperly, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said on Tuesday when responding to questions from Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Nai-shin (蔣乃辛) at the Legislative Yuan.
The ministry was not aware of the letter before it was disclosed by the media, but it has instructed the Fukuoka branch to promptly submit a full report, Ou told reporters.
The branch received the greeting from a local Japanese politician friendly to Taiwan, she said, but added that the ministry could not offer more details about the original form of the letter or who provided it.
The office did receive the letter; it was not fabricated, but it did not bear the approval of the Japanese government, nor was it listed in the ministry’s official documentation, Ou said when pressed by reporters on the authenticity of the letter.
The branch briefed the ministry after it held the National Day celebration, but normal procedures do not require it to report to Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), she said.
The ministry cautiously handles letters from foreign governments and it was the first time that a problem has occurred, she added.
Additional reporting by CNA
Taiwan yesterday condemned the recent increase in Chinese coast guard-escorted fishing vessels operating illegally in waters around the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. Unusually large groupings of Chinese fishing vessels began to appear around the islands on Feb. 15, when at least six motherships and 29 smaller boats were sighted, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said in a news release. While CGA vessels were dispatched to expel the Chinese boats, Chinese coast guard ships trespassed into Taiwan’s restricted waters and unsuccessfully attempted to interfere, the CGA said. Due to the provocation, the CGA initiated an operation to increase
A crowd of over 200 people gathered outside the Taipei District Court as two sisters indicted for abusing a 1-year-old boy to death attended a preliminary hearing in the case yesterday afternoon. The crowd held up signs and chanted slogans calling for aggravated penalties in child abuse cases and asking for no bail and “capital punishment.” They also held white flowers in memory of the boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), who was allegedly tortured to death by the sisters in December 2023. The boy died four months after being placed in full-time foster care with the
A Taiwanese woman on Sunday was injured by a small piece of masonry that fell from the dome of St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican during a visit to the church. The tourist, identified as Hsu Yun-chen (許芸禎), was struck on the forehead while she and her tour group were near Michelangelo’s sculpture Pieta. Hsu was rushed to a hospital, the group’s guide to the church, Fu Jing, said yesterday. Hsu was found not to have serious injuries and was able to continue her tour as scheduled, Fu added. Mathew Lee (李世明), Taiwan’s recently retired ambassador to the Holy See, said he met
The Shanlan Express (山嵐號), or “Mountain Mist Express,” is scheduled to launch on April 19 as part of the centennial celebration of the inauguration of the Taitung Line. The tourism express train was renovated from the Taiwan Railway Corp’s EMU500 commuter trains. It has four carriages and a seating capacity of 60 passengers. Lion Travel is arranging railway tours for the express service. Several news outlets were invited to experience the pilot tour on the new express train service, which is to operate between Hualien Railway Station and Chihshang (池上) Railway Station in Taitung County. It would also be the first tourism service
RSS