An Yilan County councilor on Tuesday said that he would open an office to reinforce Taiwan’s sovereignty claim to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) after a Japanese local government changed the name of an administrative area that covers the disputed islands.
The Diaoyutais, known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, are an uninhabited island chain in the East China Sea and claimed by Taiwan, China and Japan. They are about 200km northeast of Taiwan proper and a similar distance from Ishigaki City in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture.
Under Taiwanese law, the county’s Toucheng Township (頭城) has administrative authority over the islands.
Photo: CNA
Yilan County Councilor Tsai Wen-yi (蔡文益) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said that he and several other councilors plan to establish the office unless the Ishigaki City government reverses course.
The office would also help facilitate fishery talks between Taiwan and Japan, Tsai said.
In Japan, the islands are part of an administrative area known as Tonoshiro.
The Ishigaki City Council on Monday voted to change the name of the administrative area to “Tonoshiro Senkaku,” effective from Oct. 1, which drew protests from the Taiwanese government and the Yilan County Government.
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙), a KMT member, said that Ishigaki’s decision was regrettable and that the county government was seeking to change the name of the island chain to “Toucheng Diaoyutais,” pending the central government’s approval.
Asked whether he would sail to the Diaoyutais on July 7 as planned, Tsai on Tuesday said that he was working toward that goal, but added that he was considering all possibilities.
Minister of the Interior Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said that the issue of changing the islands’ name falls under the jurisdiction of the county government, adding that he and his ministry would approve and respect Yilan’s decision in that regard.
At a news conference on June 7, Lin urged President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit the Diaoyutais to assert Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands.
OFFLINE: People who do not wish to register can get the money from select ATMs using their bank card, ID number and National Health Insurance card number Online registration for NT$6,000 (US$196.32) cash payments drawn from last year’s tax surplus is to open today for eligible people whose national ID or permanent residency number ends in either a zero or a one, the Ministry of Finance said on Monday. Officials from the ministry revealed which days Taiwanese and eligible foreigners would be able to register for the cash payments at a joint news conference with the Ministry of Digital Affairs. Online registration is to open tomorrow for those whose number ends in a two or three; on Friday for those that end in a four or five: on Saturday
TECH PROGRAM: A US official said that an important part of the delegation’s trip would be to meet with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co executives The US is to send officials in charge of chip development to Taiwan, Japan and South Korea to promote cooperation in the global semiconductor supply chain, the US Department of Commerce said on Tuesday. Chips Program Office Director Michael Schmidt announced the visit, which marks the first time officials from the office are to visit the three nations since it was set up in September last year. “As semiconductors and technologies continue to evolve, the United States will keep working with allies and partners to develop coordinated strategies to ensure that malign actors cannot use the latest technologies to undermine our collective
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) officials are investigating why a Starlux Airlines flight to Penang, Malaysia, returned to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport nearly two hours after takeoff yesterday morning. The airline said in a statement that Flight JX721 to Penang took off from Taoyuan airport at 9:20am. “After the dashboard showed a signal of an abnormality in the hydraulic system, the captain followed standard operating procedures and returned the flight to Taoyuan airport for safety precautions,” the airline said, adding that the flight landed safely at the airport at 11:04am. The airline arranged for the passengers to have lunch after the flight landed and
Seven senior faculty members, including the principal, of a high school in Taichung were temporarily suspended from their jobs on Friday, pending an investigation by the Taichung Education Bureau into alleged bullying and abuse that led to the suicide of a student last month. The city’s education officials were too slow to suspend those involved, the student’s father told a news conference on Wednesday, at which Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) and members of the Humanistic Education Foundation were also present. The boy had been a good student and a high achiever during elementary and junior-high, and had
RSS