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
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