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."
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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