Relations between Taiwan and Japan have been put to the test as the long-standing thorny issue of the Diaoyutai islands came to the fore recently when on Sept. 7, two Japanese patrol boats were involved in a minor collision with a trawler from China, analysts said yesterday.
On the sidelines of a symposium on contemporary issues concerning China and Japan yesterday, Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), a senior National Security Council advisor, said that “despite its complexity, Taiwan couldn’t remain silent when the issue came up.”
Lee was commenting on remarks made recently by Japanese Representative to Taiwan Tadashi Imai, who was summoned on Monday by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shen Lyu-shun (沈呂巡). The summons was issued ahead of a protest on Tuesday in which two Taiwanese set sail for the disputed islands in a gesture meant to reject Japan’s claim of sovereignty over the archipelago.
PHOTO: AFP
Imai told the Kyodo News agency that the move “could have an adverse effect on Japan-Taiwan relations.”
The summons triggered speculation that Taiwan had joined hands with China against Japan over the Diaoyutais issue. Although two Taiwanese fishing ships were detained by Japan on Sept. 7 and Sept. 8 for alleged illegal fishing, Taiwan did not call in the Japanese envoy until Sept. 13. The summons was issued only after Beijing had called in Tokyo’s ambassador to China last Sunday for a fourth time over the Chinese trawler collision.
The protest voyage initiated by Huang Hsi-lin (黃錫麟) — a leader of the Chung Hwa Baodiao Alliance who is running for Sinbei City councilor in November — was escorted by 12 vessels from the Coast Guard Administration. This intrigued some political observers, leading them to question the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government’s motives.
Noting Japan’s response to the Taiwanese government’s handling of the issue, Fan Shih-ping (范世平), director of National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Political Science, said the KMT government “lacked a comprehensive consideration of the repercussions stemming from how it dealt with the issue on Taiwan-Japan relations.”
Saying that “Japanese are endowed with reticence,” Fan added that the extent of the Japanese reaction reflects how concerned Tokyo is about President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) foreign policy favoring China over Japan.
Although the Ma government just repeated its established stance on the disputed Diaoyutai islands, over which Taiwan also claims sovereignty, Fan said the government chose a bad time to declare its position.
“I did not see the need to call Imai in at that time and it could have restated its stance on the issue when the Sino-Japanese tension receded,” he said. “But it’s understandable that the government had to allow the protest [by Huang] and dispatch vessels to protect the protestors because Taiwan is a democracy.”
After Tuesday’s protest, China’s State Council Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Fan Liqing (范麗青) praised the move, saying that “maintaining sovereignty over the Diaoyutai islands amid the encounter is in the common interests of compatriots on both sides of the Strait.”
Although the timing might be coincidental, Fan Shih-ping said the remarks by Fan Liqing — coupled with the first cross-strait air-sea rescue exercise between Kinmen County and China’s Xiamen on Thursday — could make Japan worry about relations with Taiwan, a traditional ally on many issues.
In the government’s defense, Lee said “the government has never made contact with China about the Diaoyutai islands issue, nor has it consulted with China.”
Lee added that the Ma government was hoping to better understand speculation that the collision was organized by the Chinese government in response to joint US-Japan exercises to be held in December.
Toru Kurata, an associate professor specializing at Asian studies at the School of International Studies at Japan’s Kanazawa University, said the Japanese do not have much sympathy for the Chinese, who reacted strongly to the case, but thought highly of the Taiwanese, who acted rather calmly.
He said the issue should be resolved by international law.
Saying that he did not think Taiwan would side with China against Japan because of the Diaoyutais, Kurata was of the opinion that “Taiwan and China might have common interests on this matter, but they still have their own concerns on many others.”
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