Yilan County Councilor Tsai Wen-yi (蔡文益) on Saturday said he would form a flotilla to “protect the Republic of China’s [ROC] sovereignty” over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) if Japan’s Ishigaki City Council renames 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.
The city council on Monday next week is to deliberate changing the administrative designation of the islands from Tonoshiro to “Tonoshiro Senkaku.”
PHOTO: Reuters/Kyodo
In response, the Yilan County Council on Thursday last week passed a provisional motion recommending changing the name to “Toucheng Township Diaoyutai” (頭城釣魚台), as the county’s Toucheng Township (頭城) has administrative authority over the islands.
Tsai said that if Ishigaki passes its proposal, he would form a flotilla of fishing vessels in Toucheng and Suao (蘇澳) townships on July 7 to “defend” the islands.
If Ishigaki shelves the proposal or if it does not pass, Tsai said he would cancel those plans, and would follow Legislative Speaker You Si-kun’s (游錫堃) position on the islands.
You said that Taiwan and Japan should put aside their differences and jointly develop the islands.
“Protecting the ROC’s sovereignty is the responsibility of everyone regardless of party affiliation or ethnicity,” Tsai said.
Tsai also said they could start a fundraising campaign for the flotilla, which would “preserve each donator’s name throughout history for NT$10,000.”
Issues of whether to land on the islands or surround them, and how many people and ships would be needed for the operation would be decided later, Tsai said.
He said he chose July 7 to commemorate the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident (七 七事變) that led to the eight-year Second Sino-Japanese War.
The Yilan County Government yesterday said that although it understood the central government’s position of working with Japan and avoiding conflict, it would continue to prioritize the interests of the nation’s fishers.
It said it was communicating with the Fisheries Agency and local fishers regarding their concerns over their rights near the islands.
Additional reporting by CNA
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to