Osaka’s mayor yesterday hit back at US criticism of his remarks on wartime sex slavery, claiming US troops abused Japanese women during their seven-year occupation.
Washington denounced as “outrageous” comments earlier this week by Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who said “comfort women” forced to provide sex to Japanese troops during World War II were a military necessity.
“Mayor Hashimoto’s comments were outrageous and offensive,” US Department of State spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters, urging Tokyo to work with its neighbors to address the past.
Up to 200,000 “comfort women” from Taiwan, Korea, China, the Philippines and elsewhere were forcibly drafted into brothels catering to the Japanese military during World War II, but Hashimoto hit back on Twitter.
“Let me go straight to the point. When America occupied Japan, didn’t they make use of Japanese women?” Hashimoto tweeted to his 1 million followers.
“I can’t help but point out that it is unfair for America to criticize only Japan by putting aside acts by its own country,” said Hashimoto, who has been mentioned as a possible future Japanese prime minister. “[The US] should face what the US military did against local women, in particular Okinawan women, when they occupied Japan.”
US-led Allied powers controlled Japan until 1952 following its surrender at the end of World War II. The southern prefecture of Okinawa remained under US governance for another two decades.
On Monday, Hashimoto prompted outrage by saying that soldiers living with the daily threat of death needed some way to let off steam and that this was provided by the comfort women system. He said he believed the system was wrong and that former sex slaves deserved an apology.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
NATURAL INTERRUPTION: As cables deteriorate, core wires snap in progression along the cable, which does not happen if they are hit by an anchor, an official said Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) immediately switched to a microwave backup system to maintain communications between Taiwan proper and Lienchiang County (Matsu) after two undersea cables malfunctioned due to natural deterioration, the Ministry of Digital Affairs told an emergency news conference yesterday morning. Two submarine cables connecting Taiwan proper and the outlying county — the No. 2 and No. 3 Taiwan-Matsu cables — were disconnected early yesterday morning and on Wednesday last week respectively, the nation’s largest telecom said. “After receiving the report that the No. 2 cable had failed, the ministry asked Chunghwa Telecom to immediately activate a microwave backup system, with
RSS