Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Shinzo Abe’s sacrifice for Taiwan

Chin Heng-wei 金恒煒

The shocking assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe by a lone gunman on July 8 became an international news event, second only to the war in Ukraine. The next day, Time magazine released an image of its next cover, featuring a black-and-white photograph of Abe.

Meanwhile, countries including Taiwan, Australia, Brazil, India and the US lowered their national flags to half-mast to mourn Abe’s passing.

Kishida to maintain ties with Taiwan

Kishida to maintain ties with Taiwan Wang Hui-Sheng 王輝生

Vice President William Lai’s (賴清德) lightning visit to Japan to offer his condolences following the assassination of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe had the Japanese media lauding the gesture by the person they called “Taiwan’s pro-Japan second-in-command.”

Given the special circumstances of the visit, Lai was accorded far better treatment than was given to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), who made a stopover in Japan on his way to the US in 1985.

US strategic clarity required, Esper says

Taipei Times

President Tsai Ing-wen, second left, listens to former US secretary of defense Mark Esper, left, at a meeting at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: Wang Yu-ching / EPA-EFE

The US should move from strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity on cross-strait affairs and re-examine its “one China” policy, former US secretary of defense Mark Esper told President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday, adding that Taiwan must demonstrate its seriousness in defending itself by increasing its defense spending.

Preparing a safe base for new submarines

Sung Chi-cheng 宋啟成

Returning to Taiwan from Japan after World War II, Taiwanese author Eikan Kyu (邱永漢) wrote about what he saw when he disembarked at Keelung.

“There was an overturned submarine lying by the quay in front of the railroad station, stranded like a beached whale, its belly protruding from the water; most of the nearby buildings had been decimated,” Kyu wrote in Choshui River: Selected Short Stories of Eikan Kyu (濁水溪：邱永漢短篇小說選).

From his description, this Japanese submarine berthed in the Port of Keelung had been destroyed by Allied fighters.

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