The doorplate of Japan’s de facto embassy was yesterday targeted by a pro-unification supporter, who plastered it with red paint to protest against Tokyo’s controversial chasing of a Taiwanese fishing boat over the weekend.
At about noon yesterday, China Unification Promotion Party (CUPP) local chapter director Chen Ching-feng (陳清峰) hurled red paint over the doorplate of the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association’s Taipei office, while allegedly shouting: “Come out you damn Japanese” in Mandarin.
Chen was arrested and taken to the Taipei Police Department’s Songshan Precinct for questioning.
Photo courtesy of a reader
Japanese patrol boats on Saturday and Sunday chased Taiwanese fishing vessel Tung Pan Chiu No. 28 in waters near the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and used water cannon against it on Sunday, allegedly because the vessel went beyond a designated zone for fishing activities stipulated by a 2013 Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Agreement.
The government has questioned the need for Tokyo to conduct hot-pursuit tactics and lodged a stern protest with Tokyo over what it called a “disproportionate enforcement of the law.”
CUPP member Lee Cheng-lung (李承龍) told reporters that Chen was indignant at the inappropriate treatment of Taiwanese fishermen and the government’s lukewarm reaction.
“Several officials in President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration, including Council of Agriculture Minister Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢), Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊), are currently in Japan, but they have all demonstrated incompetence in the wake of the incident,” Lee said.
Chen Chu, Lin and officials from five Democratic Progressive Party-governed cities and counties left for Japan on Sunday to promote Taiwanese food products.
They are due to return today.
Chen Ching-feng believed the dignity of Taiwanese had been undermined by the incident, and he wanted to express his and the public’s grievances, Lee said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement expressing regret over the incident and adding that it had asked the National Police Agency to increase patrols to prevent a recurrence.
It also urged the public to refrain from taking violent or irrational action against foreign representative offices, as it could tarnish the nation’s international image and damage its interests.
The Taipei MRT is open all night tonight following New Year’s Eve festivities, and is offering free rides from nearby Green Line stations. Taipei’s 2025 New Year’s Eve celebrations kick off at Taipei City Hall Square tonight, with performances from the boy band Energy, the South Korean girl group Apink, and singers Gigi Leung (梁詠琪) and Faith Yang (楊乃文). Taipei 101’s annual New Year’s firework display follows at midnight, themed around Taiwan’s Premier12 baseball championship. Estimates say there will be about 200,000 people in attendance, which is more than usual as this year’s celebrations overlap with A-mei’s (張惠妹) concert at Taipei Dome. There are
LOOKING FOR WHEELS: The military is seeking 8x8 single-chassis vehicles to test the new missile and potentially replace the nation’s existing launch vehicles, the source said Taiwan is developing a hypersonic missile based on the Ching Tien (擎天) supersonic cruise missile, and a Czech-made truck has been tentatively selected as its launch vehicle, a source said yesterday. The Ching Tien, formerly known as Yun Feng (雲峰, “Cloud Peak”), is a domestically developed missile with a range of 1,200km to 2,000km being deployed in casemate-type positions as of last month, an official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The hypersonic missile to be derived from the Ching Tien would feature improved range and a mobile launch platform, while the latter would most likely be a 12x12 single chassis
UP AND DOWN: The route would include a 16.4km underground section from Zuoying to Fongshan and a 9.5km elevated part from Fongshan to Pingtung Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday confirmed a project to extend the high-speed rail (HSR) to Pingtung County through Kaohsiung. Cho made the announcement at a ceremony commemorating the completion of a dome at Kaohsiung Main Station. The Ministry of Transportation and Communications approved the HSR expansion in 2019 using a route that branches off a line from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District (左營). The project was ultimately delayed due to a lack of support for the route. The Zuoying route would have trains stop at the Zuoying Station and return to a junction before traveling southward to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝).
Parts of the nation, including in the south, could experience temperatures as low as 7°C early tomorrow morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. A strong continental cold air mass coupled with the effect of radiative cooling would bring cold weather to several northern cities and counties, and could even affect areas as far south as Tainan early tomorrow, the CWA said. Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Hsinchu, Miaoli and Yilan counties would experience temperatures below 10°C until this evening, according to cold surge advisories issued by the weather agency. The weather across the nation is forecast to remain
RSS