A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator and former local government officials yesterday called for direct flights to Japan’s Yonaguni Island at a news conference in Taipei.
DPP Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀), former DPP legislator Lai Kun-cheng (賴坤成), and former officials from the Yilan, Hualien and Taitung county governments called for the establishment of direct flights to Yonaguni Island in Okinawa Prefecture’s Yaeyama District to develop a “Kuroshio economy.”
The Kuroshio current is a north-flowing, warm ocean current on the west side of the North Pacific Ocean basin that extends from the southeast of Taiwan proper up to the west side of Okinawa Prefecture.
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Despite being only about 110km from the northern coast of Taiwan proper, there are no direct flights to Yonaguni Island from Taiwan, Chen said.
However, the popularity of cruises to the island and other parts of Yaeyama over the past decade shows that there is an interest, he said, adding that Yonaguni Mayor Kenichi Itokazu has also expressed an interest in working with Taiwan to develop the economy.
Former Yilan County Council deputy speaker Lin Chi-shah (林棋山), former Hualien mayor Wei Mu-tsun (魏木村) and former Taitung County councilor Hsu Chih-hsiung (許志雄) also attended the news conference.
“At present the only way to get to Yonaguni from Taiwan is to transfer by plane or ferry through nearby Ishigaki Island, or through Naha City on the prefecture’s main island,” Chen said.
“This increases costs and travel times for would-be visitors,” he said.
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has promoted greater links between Okinawa and Taiwan in the past, but the plans were abandoned due the cost, he said.
Japanese authorities have also investigated the possibility of having consumer goods shipped to Yaeyama from Taiwan, which would be much cheaper than shipping from Japan’s main island of Honshu, he added.
Reading from a written statement prepared by Itokazu, Chen quoted the mayor as saying that Yaeyama and Taiwan have long had exchanges, and that the connection between both sides grew stronger in 1982 when Yonaguni Island established “sister city” relations with Hualien.
The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed exchanges between Taiwan and Yonaguni, but Itokazu is looking forward to exchanges resuming, he wrote, adding that he would continue to urge the Japanese government to strengthen ties with Taiwan.
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