Three Taiwanese born during the Japanese colonial period in Taiwan are planning to seek legal action to ask the Japanese government to restore their Japanese nationality, the Sankei Shimbun reported on Thursday.
Yang Fu-cheng (楊馥成), 97, Lin Yu-li (林余立), 92, and Hsu Hua-chi (許華杞), 85, will soon take the case to an Osaka local court to restore their Japanese nationality, which they lost after the end of World War II, the report quoted their lawyer, Shinichi Tokunaga, as saying.
It would be the first such case to be filed in a Japanese court by Taiwanese born in Taiwan when it was ruled by Japan, the lawyer was quoted as saying.
The three are asking the Tokyo government to restore their Japanese nationality based on the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states: “Everyone has the right to a nationality” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality,” the report said.
After the Treaty of San Francisco that Japan inked with 48 other countries to end the US-led Allied occupation of Japan came into force on April 28, 1952, Tokyo renounced its jurisdiction over Taiwan.
However, this treaty also introduced the problem of the legal status of Taiwan, as it did not specify to which country Taiwan was to be surrendered. As a result, the sovereignty of Taiwan remains undetermined, Taiwanese independence campaigners say.
Neither the Republic of China (ROC) nor the People’s Republic of China were invited to sign the Treaty of San Francisco due to disagreements by other countries as to which government was the legitimate government of China during and after the Chinese Civil War.
Under pressure from the US, Japan signed the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty with the ROC (also known as the Treaty of Taipei) in April 1952 to bring the war between the two sides to an end, with victory for the ROC.
The Japanese Supreme Court in December 1962 ruled that after the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty took effect in August 1952, people born in Taiwan as Japanese nationals automatically lost their Japanese nationality.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS