On the 67th anniversary of Japan’s surrender to the Allies, ending World War II, more than 100 people demonstrated outside the Interchange Association, Japan, in Taipei yesterday, urging Japan to apologize for forcing Taiwanese women to serve as “comfort women” during the war.
Holding placards demanding that the Japanese government apologize for using comfort women, photographs of Taiwanese comfort women and five wheelchairs that represent former comfort women who were unable to attend the demonstration, more than 100 demonstrators chanted slogans as they marched from Zhongxiao E Road to Japan’s representative office in Taiwan, located on Qingcheng Street.
“It’s been 20 years since former Taiwanese comfort women started their campaign to demand an apology from the Japanese government. At the time, there were 58 former comfort women, but now, only nine are still alive,” Taipei City Women’s Rescue Foundation executive director Kang Shu-hua (康淑華) said. “How long do they have to wait for justice to be served? Will they really see justice in their lifetimes?”
Photo: Chien Jung-feng, Taipei Times
Kang said that while some former comfort women had taken part in demonstrations in past years, none were able to attend this year because their health was too fragile.
Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lin Shih-chia (林世嘉) and Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wu Yi-chen (吳宜臻) also took part in the demonstration.
“It isn’t shameful to recognize the mistakes of the past,” Lin said. “The former comfort women are now in their 80s or 90s. Their youth was destroyed by you [Japan], they deserve a formal apology from you.”
Wu accused the government of not helping former comfort women.
“President Ma Ying-jeou [馬英九] met with former comfort women in June and heard their call for help. Why hasn’t he said anything yet?” Wu asked. “We demand that the government defend the rights of Taiwanese nationals.”
Masahiko Sugita, Economic Affairs Director of the Japanese representative office, accepted a letter of complaint from the demonstrators and promised to forward the letter to the appropriate party.
When Sugita stepped out of the office, the crowd started to shout “apologize.” As Sugita returned into the office with the letter without responding to the crowd, they tore up small Japanese military flags.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to