A coalition of veterans who served in the Japanese military during World War II and their families protested outside the legislature yesterday, voicing support for Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang's (蘇進強) visit to Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine.
Bearing banners with the words "ignorant, audacious May Chin (
May Chin on Tuesday evening led protesters at CKS International Airport to meet Shu and eight other TSU members returning from Japan. Shu was jostled by the protesters and pelted with eggs as he headed for the exit.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
The Yasukuni Shrine is dedicated to Japan's 2.5 million war dead and lists the names of 28,000 Taiwanese and 21,000 Korean soldiers, most of whom were forced to serve in the Japanese army.
Yesterday's protest later moved into the legislature to hold a press conference at the TSU caucus office. Taiwanese independence activist Su Beng (史明) said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should be held responsible for the controversy over Shu's visit to the shrine.
"Not only does Shu's trip make sense, but the timing was also right," he said. "I don't understand why Taiwanese people cannot pay respect to our own people."
Su said the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government maliciously abandoned Taiwanese veterans after World War II ended.
About 200,000 Taiwanese were recruited as "volunteers" to fight for the Japanese in Southeast Asia during the war. About 30,000 died.
Instead of bringing the remaining 170,000 survivors home, the KMT government turned its back on them, Su said.
Chen Chun-chin (
"I don't know why it is wrong to visit my old comrades or let others pay their respects to them on my behalf," said Chen, 81, who survived the war after serving for one-and-a-half years.
Chen said his association had asked previous KMT governments on three occasions to seek compensation from the Japanese on their behalf, but to no avail.
"Then-premier Lien Chan (
TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that his party would endeavor to help Taiwanese men forced to serve as Japanese soldiers and Taiwanese women who served as sex slaves to seek compensation from the Japanese government.
Lo also said that his party would collect information on the 28,000 Taiwanese whose names are listed at the Yasukuni Shrine and build a shrine for them in Taiwan.
Chairwoman of the Association for Taiwan Independence Yin Tsu-chi (
"If she's speaking for the Chinese, I don't think she's qualified," Yin said. "If she's speaking for the Taiwanese, she seems to be clueless about the history of Taiwan and Taiwanese values."
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS