The Taiwanese government yesterday appealed for public donations for the relief efforts in Japan as Taipei increased its donation from US$300,000 to NT$100 million (US$3,382,000) in light of the increasing scale of the disaster caused by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.
“Taiwan has close relations with Japan, Japan is our important neighbor and there has been a close bond between the people of the two countries. The Japanese government and civil groups gave a helping hand to Taiwan at the time of the 921 Earthquake [in 1999] and August 8 Flood [in 2009] ... We hereby appeal to Taiwanese to donate to help those in Japan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) said at a press conference.
The 921 earthquake refers to a magnitude 7.3 quake that struck Taiwan on Sept. 21, 1999. The quake claimed 2,444 lives and injured 11,305, according to government statistics. More than 51,000 homes collapsed and 53,768 were severely damaged.
Asked about the situation of Taiwanese in Japan, Huang Ming-lung (黃明朗), secretary-general of the ministry’s East Asian Relations Commission, said: “No casualties nor injuries have been reported thus far, but we are still unable to reach several hundred Taiwanese compatriots and two students.”
According to the ministry, 39 Taiwanese tour groups totaling 1,066 people in Tokyo, a tour group of 16 people in Akita and another tour group of 30 in Sendai were all confirmed safe, but two academics surnamed Lee (李) and Hsieh (謝), who were in Sendai for an academic meeting, were unaccounted for at press time.
The ministry said that there were 653 Taiwanese compatriots and 50 students in the main disaster areas, adding that 115 resided in Fukushima where residents within a 20km radius of a nuclear power plant were told to evacuate their homes yesterday after radiation levels rose following a massive explosion at the power plant.
The ministry is keeping a close eye on the situation in Japan, particularly in its hardest-hit northeastern coastal regions, and would respond to an emergency in a speedy and efficient manner, Shen said.
The government appeared to offer conflicting accounts on the nation’s aid offer to Japan, as both President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that Japan had formally asked Taiwan on Friday for assistance, including rescue teams and rescue dogs, and Wu said the Taiwanese rescue teams could leave for Japan yesterday or today.
However, Shen said he was not aware of the discussions that both Ma and Wu mentioned.
According to Huang, Taiwan first offered to send rescue teams to Japan, but Tokyo told Taipei to hold off for the time being.
Shen said the ministry was told by Japanese Representative to Taiwan Tadashi Imai that Tokyo did not need the help and that Japan would stay in contact with Taipei if it needed assistance as the situation developed.
Several Taiwan International Emergency Rescue Team groups were also ready to leave for Japan as officials in Taipei continued to contact their Japanese counterparts to offer assistance for rescue efforts, Shen added.
Meanwhile, former Japanese prime minister Toshiki Kaifu, who is on a three-day visit in Taipei, called a press conference yesterday to express gratitude to Ma, who Kaifu said twice made telephone calls to offer his condolences to Japan and the Japanese people.
Kaifu said he was not in a position to comment on why Tokyo declined Taipei’s help, a decision he believed was made by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, saying that he personally thought that “the offer should be accepted.”
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS