China-born Japanese lawmaker Hei Seki said upon his arrival in Taipei yesterday that his trip proves that “Taiwan is not part of China, Taiwan is Taiwan,” and that the two countries are not subordinate to each other.
Greeted at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) by a group of pro-independence supporters and a small group of pro-unification protesters, Seki told reporters that he was “thrilled” to visit Taiwan.
“The People’s Republic of China [PRC] has sanctioned me and forbidden me from entering PRC territory. Today I successfully entered Taiwan’s territory to clearly demonstrate that the PRC and the Republic of China [ROC] are two different countries,” he said.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
“Taiwan is Taiwan, Taiwan is the ROC, and has no relations with the PRC,” he said, adding that his trip proved that Taiwan is an independent country.
The politician, a member of the Japan Innovation Party, has served as a member of the Japanese House of Councillors since last year.
Born in China, Seki graduated from Peking University before moving to Japan to study in 1988, one year before the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
He became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2007, and a university lecturer and political commentator before moving into politics.
In September last year, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced sanctions targeting Seki for his position on China, his support of Taiwan and his visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine that honors Japan’s war dead, including 30,304 Taiwanese soldiers who died in World War II.
The sanctions included banning him from entering China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
Japanese officials at the time said that Seki was the first Japanese lawmaker to be sanctioned by the Chinese government and that Tokyo had lodged a protest with Beijing to demand that it withdraw the measures.
Seki was invited to Taiwan by the Taipei-based Indo-Pacific Strategy Thinktank and is to attend a seminar on Friday.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) told reporters in Beijing that the “rantings of petty villains are not worth responding to.”
Additional reporting by AFP
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
RSS