Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday extended an invitation to President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to jointly visit the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) to protest Japan’s unilateral action to rename the islands.
The Diaoyutais — known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan — are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by Taiwan, Japan and China.
Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakayama has proposed changing the name to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
Photo: AP / Kyodo News
A vote by the Ishigaki City Council is due to be held on June 22 and is expected to pass.
Chiang wrote on Facebook yesterday that Tsai’s claim that “the Diaoyutai Islands are indisputably our nation’s territory” is at odds with her refusal to visit the islands to uphold regional peace.
“How would visiting Taiwanese territory be an act that would disrupt regional peace?” he wrote.
Chiang urged Tsai to accompany him on a visit to the islands to demonstrate that she is willing to set aside party differences to defend the nation’s sovereignty and Taiwanese fishers’ rights.
Tsai should also summon the Japanese representative to Taiwan to protest the proposal, Chiang wrote, adding that Representative to Japan Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) should also lodge a protest with the Japanese government.
The KMT legislative caucus separately yesterday said that the government’s attitude on the issue is too placatory and weak.
The caucus said that the government had failed to convene a Taiwan-Japan Fisheries Committee meeting in March or to dispatch Coast Guard Administration ships to protect Taiwanese fishing boats operating near the islands.
The public would not condone the government “setting aside differences and jointly developing the area” if that means the Japanese government intimidating Taiwanese fishing boats, the caucus said.
It accused Hsieh of dereliction of duty and said that it would propose summoning him to report on the incident during the next legislative session.
While the Presidential Office had failed to respond to Chiang’s invitation by press time last night, Democratic Progressive Party spokeswoman Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said that the government maintains that the islands are a part of the nation’s sovereign territory.
The government urges all sides to set aside their differences, jointly develop the area and settle any disputes amicably, Yen said, adding that its handling of the issue would observe the nation’s sovereignty claim while maintaining regional stability.
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