A group of prominent Japanese has issued a statement criticizing their government’s handling of territorial disputes and throwing support behind an East China Sea peace initiative broached by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
The group, led by Nobel Prize-winning author Oe Kenzaburo, urged the Japanese government to immediately stop the vicious cycle of territorial spats with neighboring countries, referring to Japan’s battle with Taiwan and China over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in the East China Sea and with South Korea over Takeshima Island in the Sea of Japan (known as the East Sea in Korea).
The statement, issued on Friday, said that Japan annexed Takeshima, known as Dokdo Island in Korea, and the Diaoyutais, known as the Senkakus in Japan, when South Korea and China were not strong enough to assert diplomatic claims.
For Korean people, the statement said, the annexation of Takeshima symbolized the start of Japan’s aggression and colonization of their country.
In the case of the Senkakus, the latest flare-ups of tensions with China began with Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara’s announcement of his intention to purchase three islets in the uninhabited island group the statement said.
Ishihara’s move eventually led to the Japanese government’s nationalization of the islets, which China saw as a provocation that broke a previous tacit bilateral understanding to shelve their conflicting claims to the archipelago, the statement said.
The Diaoyutais are located about 120 nautical miles (220km) northeast of Taipei.
The “East China Sea Peace Initiative” proposed by Ma on Aug. 5 called for claimants to the Dia-oyutais to put aside differences, refrain from escalating tensions, pursue dialogue, seek consensus and cooperate in formulating a code of conduct.
Noting that Ma’s initiative is rational and feasible, the statement said it is worth promoting and that the Japanese government should support it by dropping its unrealistic perception that there is no dispute over the Diaoyutais.
The statement added that waters surrounding the Diaoyutai Islands have been traditional fishing grounds for people in Taiwan and Okinawa Prefecture.
Fishermen in those areas would not like to see the waters become the focus of international territorial rows, a hope that all contesting parties should respect, the statement said.
Atsushi Okamoto, editor-in-chief of Sekai Magazine, who hosted a news conference in unveiling the statement, said the civic group, composed of more than 500 elite figures from various sectors, has collected endorsements from many ordinary Japanese over the past week.
The signature campaign will last until Oct. 17, Okamoto said, adding that the group is scheduled to present the signatures to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s office on Oct. 18.
The Japanese statement came on the same day the top US diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, said the US would not play a mediating role in the dispute over the Diaoyutais.
His comments came after China and Japan traded angry accusations over the islands in a late-night exchange at the UN General Assembly on Thursday.
Campbell reminded the two countries, which have the world’s second and third-largest economies, to recognize the importance of their relationship and resolve their grievances through dialogue.
He said each government should set aside the territorial dispute from its other bilateral issues, acknowledging that it would be “extraordinarily difficult” to solve.
Additional reporting by AP
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS