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.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we