Japan needs to face up to its wartime past and develop its relationships with neighboring countries “from a forward-looking perspective,” Representative to Japan Shen Ssu-tsun (沈斯淳) told the legislature yesterday.
Shen made the remarks when asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) and Yang Ying-hsiung (楊應雄) his views on the recent spate of nationalist tones and gestures of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other politicians.
Lin said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had failed to take action and protest against the Japanese government’s “denial and distortion of history” and demanded that the ministry act like South Korea, which has accused Japan of not looking squarely at history.
Despite the importance of the relationship with Japan and the cordial ties between the two countries’ people, the government should lodge a protest against Japan over the matter “in a timely and appropriate manner,” Yang said.
“What we saw in Tokyo was that, apart from what the Japanese government has said, dissenting opinions have arisen. The issue is still evolving and we will pay close attention,” Shen said.
The representative office in Tokyo has never softened its stance and expressions on issues of concern to national interests, Shen said, adding that Taiwan would continue to maintain friendly bilateral relations.
Several Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers asked him about his “lack of fluency” in Japanese. Shen replied that he had been working on learning the language and attends Japanese-language classes every week.
Shen added that the language issue has never hindered him from “precisely” conveying the nation’s position on issues related to the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) and President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) East China Sea Peace Initiative in his talks with the Japanese side.
TECH SECTOR: Nvidia Corp also announced its intent to build an overseas headquarters in Taiwan, with Taipei and New Taipei City each attempting to woo the US chipmaker The US-based Super Micro Computer Inc and Taiwan’s Guo Rui on Wednesday announced a joint venture to build a computation center powered only by renewable energy. After meeting with Supermicro founder Charles Liang (梁見後) and Guo Rui chairman Lin Po-wen (林博文), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) instructed a cross-ministry panel to be established to help promote the government’s green energy policies and facilitate efforts to obtain land for the generation of green power, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said. Cho thanked Liang for his company’s support of the government’s 2019 Action Plan for Welcoming Overseas Taiwanese Businesses to Return to Invest in
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS