Dozens of protesters yesterday gathered outside the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s office in Taipei amid reports that the city of Ishigaki in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture was planning to change the administrative designation of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).
The islands — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan.
The Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) yesterday cited Japanese local news reports as saying that a proposal was to be made at an Ishigaki city council meeting to change the administrative designation of the islands from Tonoshiro to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
Photo: CNA
According to an English-language report published on Sunday by the Asahi Shimbun, Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama defended the proposal in an interview with the paper on Saturday, saying that the change aims to streamline administrative work by further dividing the Tonoshiro area.
The Japanese-language Okinawa Times on Saturday also reported on the proposed name change.
Several groups were represented at the rally in Taipei, including the organizers, the Diaoyutai Education Association, the Taiwan Association for Recovery of the Diaoyutai Islets and Zhong Hua Bao Diao Association, with protesters shouting slogans such as “Diaoyutais are ours,” and “Safeguard sovereignty, protect fishing rights.”
Photo: CNA
Organizers in a letter of protest said that Japan’s naming or renaming of the islands would be a serious encroachment on Taiwan’s territory, sovereignty and fishing rights.
For generations, the waters surrounding the islands have been a traditional fishing area of fishers based in ports in Yilan County and Keelung — especially those in the Nanfangao (南方澳) fishing harbor — the letter said.
It called on Japan to “reflect on and correct” an aggression toward and annexation of other parts of Asia it said began in the 19th century, and to “completely abolish militarist ideology,” saying that the dispute over the islands still exists because Japan has failed to do so.
The protesters had hoped to deliver the letter to an association official in person, but no one from the association immediately responded to their requests.
Asked about the issue during a news briefing in Taipei, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said that according to information gathered by the ministry, the council only submitted the proposal yesterday and would vote on the issue on June 22.
The ministry has expressed its serious concern about the matter to Japan, while reiterating Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands, Ou said.
Taiwan’s sovereignty rights over the islands would not be altered just because another country or its local government renames them, she said.
The nation’s abiding position is that any disputes should be resolved through peaceful means, and Japan and China should restrain themselves to avoid escalating tensions in the region, Ou said.
Taiwan would continue to monitor the situation on the islands and in nearby waters, and would take action to defend its sovereignty and fishers’ rights, she added.
Additional reporting by Lin Chia-nan
The military has spotted two Chinese warships operating in waters near Penghu County in the Taiwan Strait and sent its own naval and air forces to monitor the vessels, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. Beijing sends warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis, drawing condemnation from Taipei. While the ministry offers daily updates on the locations of Chinese military aircraft, it only rarely gives details of where Chinese warships are operating, generally only when it detects aircraft carriers, as happened last week. A Chinese destroyer and a frigate entered waters to the southwest
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comment last year on Tokyo’s potential reaction to a Taiwan-China conflict has forced Beijing to rewrite its invasion plans, a retired Japanese general said. Takaichi told the Diet on Nov. 7 last year that a Chinese naval blockade or military attack on Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, potentially allowing Tokyo to exercise its right to collective self-defense. Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force general Kiyofumi Ogawa said in a recent speech that the remark has been interpreted as meaning Japan could intervene in the early stages of a Taiwan Strait conflict, undermining China’s previous assumptions
Taiwan Railways Corp (TRC) today announced that Shin Kong Mitsukoshi has been selected as the preferred bidder to operate the Taipei Railway Station shopping mall, replacing the current operator, Breeze Development Co Ltd. Among eight qualified firms that delivered presentations and were evaluated by a review committee, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi was ranked first, while Breeze was named the runner-up, the rail company said in a statement. Contract negotiations are to proceed in accordance with regulations, it said, adding that if negotiations with the top bidder fail, it could invite the second-ranked applicant to enter talks. Breeze in a statement today expressed doubts over
RSS