The government yesterday urged Japan to deal cautiously with acts by its politicians on the sovereignty of the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, to avoid damage to bilateral relations.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman James Chang (章計平) made the remarks in response to a plan outlined by Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara on Monday to purchase three islets that are part of the Diaoyutai chain.
Ishihara, who made the comments during a visit to the Heritage Foundation in Washington, said the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has been negotiating with the private Japanese owners of the islands and it was close to reaching an agreement to buy them.
“Would anyone have a problem with an act by the Japanese to protect our own land?” Ishihara was quoted as saying.
“Tokyo has decided to buy them. Tokyo is going to protect the Senkaku Islands,” he said.
Ishihara said the purchase was aimed at preventing China from taking “effective control” of the islands out of Japan’s hands, according to media reports.
He said he had begun negotiations to purchase Uotsurijima, Kitakojima and Minamikojima in the uninhabited island chain, which is owned by a Japanese family and leased to the Japanese government.
The islands are owned by a family named Kurihara who bought them decades ago from descendants of the previous Japanese owners.
The online edition of the conservative Sankei Shimbun reported that the owners had agreed to sell to the Tokyo government.
Ishihara will hold hearings with experts and seek the agreement of the local legislature in his bid to buy the islands when the Japanese government’s annually renewable leases expires at the end of March, the Sankei said.
He did not discuss the expected cost of the islands in Washington, saying only they would be “not too expensive.”
In Taipei, Chang said that the ministry did not recognize any remarks made by Japanese politicians regarding the sovereignty of the Diaoyutais.
“We call on the Japanese government to handle the comments cautiously. We do not want to see any kind of actions taken unilaterally because they would damage our cordial relationship with Japan,” Chang said.
The Republic of China has long maintained that it holds sovereignty over the Diaoyutais, but that all claimants should set aside sovereignty disputes and instead jointly develop the region to the benefit all parties, Chang said.
“We urge all parties involved to tackle the issue in a peaceful, rational way,” he said.
If realized, Ishihara’s move would mark a new stage in the long-rumbling territorial dispute over the islands, which sit in rich fishing grounds that may harbor lucrative energy resources.
China also lays claim to the islands and relations between Tokyo and Beijing plunged in September 2010 when Japan’s coast guard detained a Chinese fishing boat captain who rammed a patrol boat near the islands.
China cut off exports of rare earth minerals and halted political and cultural exchanges, forcing Japan into what was widely seen as a humiliating climbdown.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS