Politicians have to be thymotic or fearful of not being recognized. That's why they need to be in the spotlight to survive. So a handful of members of the Legislative Yuan have turned jingoistic overnight, deciding to sally out to the Tiaoyutai or Diaoyutai Islands to join in the diplomatic spat between China and Japan over the eight uninhabited islets, which the Japanese call the Senkakus. Incidentally, that Japanese name is a translation of the Pinnacle Islands the Royal Navy first marked in the British charts long before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, at the end of which the Qing court in Beijing ceded Taiwan to the Land of the Rising Sun.
Lawmakers have a good excuse to show the flag, because Taiwan, like China and Japan, claims sovereignty over the Tiaoyutais, only 120 miles northeast of Keelung. Moreover, fishermen of the counties of Taipei and Yilan have been often arrested and their vessels seized when they came near the small archipelago to operate. Well, the row between Beijing and Tokyo started with the arrest of a Chinese trawler skipper and the seizure of his ship over the waters off the Tiaoyutai group on Sept. 7.
A group of our legislators is now all set to leave for the Tiaoyutais on Nov. 4, hopefully to be in the global limelight by suggesting at least a sector of the public they claim to represent wants Taiwan to join with China in the dispute over the ownership of the islets, which the U.S. unwittingly started with the transfer of the Ryukyu island chain to Japanese sovereignty after a long occupation following the end of World War II. Washington has gone on the record by stating Japan has administrative authority over the Senakakus, which the U.S. considers part of the Okinawas. But the Taiwan never accepts that American position.
In fact, Taipei protested when the U.S. first returned Amami Oshima group, the northernmost islands of the Okinawas, to Japan in 1953, citing Washington had failed to consult the Allies in the settlement of the occupied territory.
The Republic of China, one of the Allies in the war against the Axis, had to be consulted in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration that Japan accepted to surrender unconditionally to end World War II. Moreover, Taipei signed a peace treaty with Tokyo in 1952 to confirm Taiwan as a province of the Republic of China, which has jurisdiction over the Tiaoyutais. As a matter of fact, the islets are under the jurisdiction of Toucheng Township in Yilan County. When the U.S. returned the other islands of the Okinawas to Japan in 1972, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs filed a similar protest again. Foreign Minister Timothy Yang cannot be faulted for stating Japan is exercising administrative authority over the Senkakus, for that statement cannot be equated with the renunciation of Taiwan's sovereignty over the Tiaoyutais. Officially, however, Uncle Sam takes no side in the dispute.
On the other hand, the Japanese are afraid Taiwan will side even tacitly with China in the diplomatic row against Japan. So is Natale Bellocchi, a former chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan. Of course, he does not speak for the U.S., but reflects the strategic thinking of American policy makers. The Japanese, as well as the Americans, question why Taipei would file protests, though weak so far, with Tokyo, while remaining silent over the same issue it has with Beijing. Even Democratic Progressive Party leaders voice the same question. Does it mean that Taiwan is beginning to lurch toward China, which is rising as an economic and military power? Is Taiwan trying to gang up with China in order to gain more economic benefits? Or will Taiwan become a cat's paw of Beijing's, to help China win its current diplomatic war to avenge Japan's aggression between 1936 and 1945?
None of them should be that suspicious. Taiwan has registered no protest against the People's Republic simply because there is no need to do so. Beijing claims sovereignty over the Diaoyutais just as Japan does. And there has been no clash between Taiwanese and Chinese fishermen operating near the disputed islets. All incidents over their waters occurred as a result of the intensified Japanese coast guard patrolling to stake out the exclusive rights to tap the vast undersea oil reserves of the Senkakus. There is more than enough reason to believe Japan picked up the fight over the Senkakus, since in the past Chinese fishermen used to be shooed away rather than arrested for intrusion into Japanese sea territory. And even if there were Chinese incursion into Taiwan's territorial waters, Taipei would settle it without threatening to prosecute intruders as the Japanese court did.
The best thing our thymotic lawmakers can do for the good of the country is to call off their planned Tiaoyutai voyage. We only want to shelve the sovereignty dispute to solve issues over fishing rights and development of oil resources under the sea in our best national interests.
〈本文僅供參考，不代表本會立場〉
（本文刊載於99.10.27，The China Post 4版）
王順民
劉新圓
