Taiwan Speaks Up!

[Randy W]

.

. . . on the Diaoyu Islands - in the New York Times

 

Asian Islands in Dispute

Taiwan’s diplomatic approach has yielded concrete and positive results; last month, Japan and Taiwan signed a fishery agreement giving Taiwanese fishermen access to an additional 1,400 square nautical miles of fishing territory.

 

Virulent nationalism, irredentism and militarism are not effective ways to approach this delicate international situation. Only peace will bring prosperity, and we call on all parties to pursue legal and diplomatic courses of action.

 

BRIAN SU

Director, Press Division

Taipei Economic and Cultural Office

 

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Senkaku_Diaoyu_Tiaoyu_Islands.png/600px-Senkaku_Diaoyu_Tiaoyu_Islands.png

[Randy W]

The editorial it was responding to

 

China’s Evolving ‘Core Interests’

Whenever China wants to identify the issues considered important enough to go to war over, it uses the term “core interests.” The phrase was once restricted to Taiwan, the island nation that China has threatened to forcibly unify with the mainland. About five years ago, Chinese leaders expanded the term to include Tibet and Xinjiang, two provinces with indigenous autonomy movements that Beijing has worked feverishly to control.

 

. . .

 

the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, told reporters that “the Diaoyu Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of course it’s China’s core interest.”

 

This wording, with its threatening implications, is raising new tensions in a region already on edge over North Korea and several other maritime disputes, and it will make it harder to peacefully resolve the dispute over the islands, called Diaoyu in China, and Senkaku in Japan.

 

[Fu Lai]

Ah, so this is a Taiwanese with an axe to grind. Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang etc. are part of China no matter what this writer says. If other countries try to steal it then it must be protected. "threatening implications", what else?