Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Speaking in the legislature a little while back, National Security Council Secretary--General Hu Wei-jen (胡為真) said that China says the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) belong to “China,” not specifically the “People’s Republic of China” (PRC). Hu inferred from this that the issue could be approached according to the concept of “one China with each side having its own interpretation.” Hu said that incidents that have occurred around the Diaoyutais were matters of Japan’s relations with Taiwan and of Japan’s relations with “mainland China,” but not of relations between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. There was no need to connect the Diaoyutais issue with cross-strait relations, he concluded.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday admitted for the first time that former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe took a taxi during a late night dinner with several opposition party politicians during a recent two-day visit to Taiwan.

The admission came after ministry officials had been insistent, amid growing questions raised over the diplomatic lapse, that government-supplied courtesy cars were provided at all times during Abe’s visit.