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.”
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but