Taiwan yesterday protested a Japanese city’s decision to change the name of an administrative area that covers the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台).
Known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea is claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
The Ishigaki Municipal Assembly yesterday passed a bill to change the islands’ administrative name from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku,” despite the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ assertion of Taiwanese sovereignty over the islands on multiple occasions following media reports about the Japanese proposal earlier this month.
Photo: AFP
Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama said at the time that Japan hoped to rename the islands because China frequently dispatched vessels to waters around the islands, and even expelled Japanese fishing vessels in the area.
The Presidential Office said that any unilateral move would not change the fact that the Diaoyutais belongs to the Republic of China (ROC), adding that any unilateral action was unhelpful to resolving the matter.
The Taiwanese government, which has long asserted sovereignty over the islands, would continue to resort to peaceful and rational means when it comes to sovereignty disputes, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Japan should exercise rationality and restrain itself from interfering with Taiwan’s sovereignty over the islands, otherwise friendship between the two nations, as well as regional stability in the East China Sea, could be affected, it said.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) also condemned the council’s move, saying the Diaoyutais are ROC territory and the nation would not give up even “an inch” of its sovereignty.
Japan’s move infringes on the nation’s territory, sovereignty and fishing rights, the KMT said, calling on President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) not to overlook Japan’s action.
Protection of the nation’s sovereignty and fishing rights are the will and consensus of Taiwanese, it said, adding that Taiwan must not allow its sovereignty to be “eroded little by little.”
KMT headquarters urged the Tsai administration to immediately summon Japan’s representative to Taiwan to express its solemn protest, and to propose a counterplan to “maintain the integrity of the nation’s territory, sovereignty and fishing rights.”
The KMT caucus also urged Tsai to visit the Diaoyutais to assert the nation’s sovereign claim to the islands.
In Taiwan, the Diaoyutais fall under the jurisdiction of Toucheng Township (頭城) in Yilan County, which earlier this month passed a resolution to submit a proposal to the Ministry of the Interior to change the name of the islands to Toucheng Township Diaoyutai (頭城釣魚台).”
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) expressed regret over Japan’s decision to change the islands’ name.
Asked whether she would visit the islands and put up house number plates there, as she had proposed before as a way to assert Taiwan’s sovereignty, Lin said: “As it is a matter of great importance, more discussion is needed.”
The county government said it has sent an official letter to the Ministry of the Interior, urging it to respect regional opinions by officially renaming the Diaoyutais “Toucheng Township Diaoyutai.”
Suao Fishermen’s Association head Chen Chun-sheng (陳春生) said that fishers from Yilan’s Suao Township (蘇澳) had voiced concern about their fishing rights in waters near the islands, as the area is an important fishing ground.
The area has plenty of fishing resources, including black tuna, sharks, marlin and mahi-mahi, making it a hotly contested asset by countries surrounding it, he said.
Saying he advocates “setting disputes aside, jointly developing the area and sharing the resources,” Chen urged the Tsai administration to mediate the sovereignty dispute.
Asked if he would form a protest flotilla to the islands, Chen said he would invite fishers for further discussions.
Additional reporting by Sherry Hsiao,Su Yung-yao,Chang Yi-chen,Chiang Chih-hsiung and CNA
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would