TSU Chief pays homage to Yasukuni shrine

[quote]TSU head visits controversial shrine
RARE VISIT: Shu Chin-chiang’s trip was lauded by some in Japan, but condemned by a lawmaker here who cited Japan’s military campaigns against Taiwan’s Aborigines

AFP , TOKYO, WITH STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, Apr 05, 2005,Page 3

Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) made a pilgrimage yesterday to a Tokyo war shrine, in a rare visit by a senior Asian political figure to the sanctuary which has tarnished Japan’s relations with neighboring countries.

Shu immediately came under fire at home for the visit where he was accused of dignifying Japan’s militarism in the early 20th century.

Shu, dressed in a business suit, was cheered on by supporters who unfurled the flags of Japan and his party as he entered the Yasukuni shrine which is dedicated to 2.5 million war dead, including 14 convicted war criminals.

He called on Asians to “move beyond the grudges and animosity of the past.”

“As one Taiwanese and as a leader of a political party I have come here to pay my respect to the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for Japan,” Shu said.

“At the same time, as one Taiwanese, I have come here to pay my respect for 28,000 Taiwanese,” whose names are enshrined, he said.[/quote]

Read the entire article here, courtesy of the TaiduTimes

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003249178

I guess the KMT isn’t the only one fond of courting controvercy in the face of future political irrelevance. It’s just too bad that the TSU’s attempt are exponentially more pathetic. :imp: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, naked self-serving colonial sycophancy of degenerate quislings. :raspberry:

To think, TSU, the headquarters of TIers, the vanguard of TI.
Don’t blame people for having a hard time telling TIers and Japanese right-wingers apart.
I applaud their effort to turn more and more people against TI.

Leaders of the Taiwan Independence movement paying tribute to that part of the past 100 years when Taiwan was the least independent.

I must admire the Taipei Times though, for its delicate balancing act between being leftwing/liberal on foreign issues, by publishing lots of Guardian stuff, and unabashedly rightwing nationalist on its domestic pages.

I bet it’s difficult to find another paper in the world that simultaneously describes Bush and Berlusconi as rightwing zealots and a Yasukuni visit as ‘honorable!’ Imagine a European party leader visiting the graves of people who fought for the Nazis. There would be a storm of protest - and rightly so - and the TT would probably join in the chorus of disapproval, but if it’s the TSU doing it, then all is forgiven.

And if you think only the blues and China stooges criticize the Yasukuni visit - as the TT no doubt wants you to believe - then know that many DPP lawmakers also had harsh words for the TSU.

I support Taiwan independence, but this visit to the shrine was just stupid, as was the Taipei Times editorial today defending it.

Brian

Just read that new editorial myself Bu Lai En, I certainly got a kick out of it. Obviouslly the Chinese and Westerners are to blame (China for losing the war, the west for being indifferent) for Taiwan’s suffering (which if you will ask me at another time will suddenly be a golden age so much better than the KMT era). Japan’s military aggression, colonization, and forced conscription didn’t have anything to do with it! Nope, none at all. In their topsy turvy world, it is China that is to be blamed for Japan’s war crimes. And you wonder why some of us Chinese are totally against the idea of an independent Taiwan with ass-clowns like this most determined to get it.

Amusingly enough, I just noticed that their editorial contradicted another long standing ToiletTime’s editorial policy. They actually admitted that Taiwan was part of China. :noway:

Oh when will the contradictions ever end. Im surprised the author’s brain didn’t explode from all the tortuous logic applied.

Link for those that want to read it for themselves.

taipeitimes.com/News/archive … 2003249358

Speaking of contradictions, before the conscription was mandated towards the end of the war, call-ups were semi-voluntary and tons and tons of Japanized Taiwanese would actually volunteer.

Even to this day, there was some interview of an old Japanized Taiwanese soldier. They asked him what he thought of mainlanders. He said he should have killed more of them while he was sent fighting there in WWII! To be fair, the interview was about 228. But still, that’s alarming.

Personally I have zero confidence in the ability of an independent Taiwan, left to its own device, to not be antithetical to the interests of Chinese people.

Could it possibly be as simple, and as childish, as the TSU demonstrating how un-Chinese they are by lauding China’s biggest historical enemy? Otherwise, I can’t imagine what they were thinking.

The TSU appeals primarily to the betel-chewing bumpkins, so yes.

The TSU appeals primarily to the betel-chewing bumpkins, so yes.[/quote]

The TSU does not appeal to betelnut chewing bumpkins? I resent that. I think it is the PFP and DPP that are the bumpkins, but who cares about that anyway.

The TSU is by far the wisest and slyest of all of the parties in Taiwan. They are masters at politics. The best ideas come from this party. They continue to amaze me week after week. They are mostly comprised of acedemics and ex-KMT. If you really followed politics closely, you would see this for yourself.

Yup…Overpaid ivory tower dwellers and probably some of the most corrupt elements from the KMT, followed by a rabble of the aforementioned betelnut-chewing bumpkins. And fond of Japanese militarism to boot.

Get over it Juba. Get over the KMT split of the Pro-Taiwan KMT going to the TSU. What is now left is just the COMMIE lovin’ REDs. There is no more Blue left in the KMT, only RED.

Also, get over the war. That was a long time ago. You guys have come to love and embrace the current butchers of Beijing and past enemies of Taiwan (China), why can’t you forgive Japan from 50 years ago? Americans don’t hold any grudges. The KMT did a lot of nasty things in the war too. That was a long time ago this is now. Embrace Taiwan’s ally and avoid China, the enemy of Taiwan.

I think this article in the Taipei Times, sums up my feelings and shows how clever the TSU is. They really make the KMT look bad IMO.

taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003249322

PS: Anything which pisses off the KMT / CCP alliance advocates can only be a good thing! :bravo:

Thank you, you have just proved my point quite nicely.

Taiwan aboriginal legislator [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/gao-jin-su-mei-may-chin-aboriginal-defender-or-blue-stooge/11118/1 Chin (Gao-Jin Sumei)[/url] recently went to Japan to protest about Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the Yasukuni shrine. I was asked to translate a press release for her. Here it is:

[quote=“May Chin’s press release”]Statement by Yang Yuanhuang (Atayal tribe)

My mother’s father was one of the main leaders of the Wushe rebellion, and was the first chief to be killed as a result. My uncle (my mother’s sister’s husband) Hanaoka Jiro (Huagang Erlang) was one of those who committed suicide on account of the Wushe rebellion. So, two of my relatives died as a result of the Wushe incident.

Another of my uncles (my mother’s brother) and my mother’s first husband, as the son and son-in-law of one of the instigators of the Wushe rebellion, had no option under Japanese colonial rule but to prove their “loyalty” by joining the Takasago Volunteer Force of the Japanese army, in whose service they died in some far-off land.

Among the souls of the war dead who are honored at the Yasukuni Shrine are Japanese soldiers who were killed by our tribesmen. The souls of my uncle and my mother’s first husband could not possibly wish to be honored in the same place as those enemies. Therefore we, their descendents, wish to see their souls brought back to their homeland.

In visiting the Yasukuni Shrine, Prime Minister Koizumi is treating our relatives as murderous invaders of other countries. It is a great insult to our relatives. Therefore, I strongly oppose Prime Minister Koizumi’s visit to the shrine.

Statement by Wu Musong (Bunun tribe)

According to the traditions of our people, the dead are buried under our homes, so that the souls of the dead can be with their families forever.

To take the souls of the dead Takasago Volunteers without the permission of their families and place them in the Yasukuni Shrine is tantamount to kidnapping the souls of the dead.

“Do not unto others what you would not have them do unto you.” While the Japanese government strongly protests against abductions of Japanese people by North Korea, it should not for its part kidnap the souls of our fellow tribesmen, the Takasago Volunteers, and keep them in the Yasukuni Shrine, and still less should Prime Minister Koizumi offer them his hypocritical remembrance.

Statement by May Chin (Gao-Jin Sumei) (Atayal tribe)

The Takasago Volunteers took part in the Pacific War only because of brainwashing under Japanese colonial rule, by which they were forced to forget the history of their own people.

During our sojourn on the island of Taiwan, our people have been subjected to the rule of foreign invaders including the Dutch, Portuguese, Qing (Manchus) and Japanese. In the recent past, they were forced to fight in the Pacific War, invading the lands of people who had no enmity with us. Following their deaths in the war, they have been placed in the Yasukuni Shrine to be revered along with the Japanese invaders. This is a great insult to our war dead. Therefore, we resolutely demand that the souls of our fellow tribesmen be returned to us, and we oppose Prime Minister Koizumi’s participation in remembrance ceremonies at the Yasukuni Shrine.[/quote]


Massacre following the Wushe Rebellion

The Wushe Incident, Nantou County, Taiwan, 1930

Would you say the same to anyone who takes issue with neo-Nazi skinheads in present day Germany?

Who said anything about not forgiving Japan? There is quite a difference between forgiving and paying respects to Class A war criminals, though.

Might that be because we kicked Japan’s ass so badly that they wished they had never even cast a mean look in our direction? It may be a bit obsessive for Chinese people to be so anti-Japan, but the Japanese don’t exactly make it easy for those who would like to argue in their favor. I don’t like how the mainlanders nurture this grudge against the Japanese, but the fact remains that they do have a few legitimate gripes.

Say what you like of the KMT, but I don’t recall them visiting a place that memorializes a dozen or so Class A war criminals.

Anything?

I think you guys have been talking to too many crazed Anti-Japanese bigots. How could you compare a visit to that place to a Neo-Nazi. Really, you seem like a step away from the same people that went on a rampage through Beijing after Japan beat China 3-1 in the Asia Cup back in August.

I am so sick of every China “educated” (viz brainwashed) Commie and their China Nationalist Party comrades that absolutely hate everything about the Japanese. left and right at every chance they get they say something bad about the Japanese.

Get over it. The TSU lawmaker did not condone Japanese war crimes. He went to pay respect to the Taiwan people that died in World War II and are remembered at the shrine.

You guys are over the top, just like a bunch of rabid KMT / CCP bots.

JT: Did you read the TT article I linked to? They liken CKS to a war criminal which most people will agree. Regarding the Japanese, meet some and talk with them, they are nothing like the China press makes them out to be.

Who here has said anything in defense of that behaviour?

Recognizing that the Japanese did wrong and that a TSU member visiting the shrine is not a sensible move do not equate to hate. You are the one in this thread who has resorted to absolute, intolerant statements.

His silence concerning the Class A war criminals interred there seems to at least be a tacit approval of those war crimes.

If he sought to pay respects to Taiwanese who died in the war, he could have done so without leaving Taiwan. Instead, he chose to show respect to the Taiwanese who fought for a rather nasty empire.

Stating that the visit was stupid somehow makes us rabid, huh?

Grudgingly, yes. It was a waste of three minutes of my time. Typical TT shite.

[quote]Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Chairman Shu Chin-chiang’s (蘇進強) pilgrimage to a Tokyo war memorial was a gesture meant to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) fawning over China, and people should not simply call the visit promotion of militarism, political analysts and historians said yesterday.

“I think the TSU’s gesture in Japan was a direct slap at the 10-point agreement signed between KMT Vice Chairman Chiang Pin-kun (江丙坤) and chairman of China’s People’s Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin (賈慶林),” said Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明), a research assistant at the Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences at Academia Sinica.

[/quote]
If this is the only response to the Guogong ten points that the TSU can think of, then they have got to be the lamest bunch of fuckwits to have ever warmed a seat in the LY. This wasn’t a response to the KMT’s moves. If it was, then the TSU are fucking idiots. The article you linked to is grasping at straws to find a defense for that incredibly stupid and indefensible visit.

I can’t believe there are actually people who take the TSU seriously.

If he sought to pay respects to Taiwanese who died in the war, he could have done so without leaving Taiwan. Instead, he chose to show respect to the Taiwanese who fought for a rather nasty empire.[/quote]
The Taiwan people were forced to fight for the Japanese. They should not be held accountable for Japan’s war crimes of over 50 years ago. Doing so would be similar to villifying the Vietnam war veterans. It is obvious the TSU lawmaker went there purposely to get a rise out of Pro-China KMT and CCP people. Seems he suceeded marvelously. :bravo:

Hobart is the reason why Masao ceased to be. There is no point for such a character to exist in real life, when there are real people who can talk way better than him.

As a supporter of Hong Kong independence, I still do not believe it is in the best interests for the TSU to visit the Yasukuni shrine under any circumstance. Their visit has proven everything the blues said about the greens to be right, they made their moderate partners, the DPP, look like Japanese stooges like the TSU and most of all they have offended the aborigines, the true Taiwanese.

I agree that Mr. Su has done a great job angering the communists and the blues, but he also did a marvelous job perpetuating a stereotype that all Taiwanese are eager Japanese House Slaves. If that is what TI is all about, then the Hong Kong Independence Movement wishes no part in it.

Speaking of stooges, the Taiwan aboriginals are KMT stooges, so upsetting them does nothing to harm Taiwan Independence movement. By the way, my Taiwan wife’s Grandfather was killed in 1944 fighting on the side of the Japanese in WWII. She holds no grudges to the Japanese. That was a long time ago.

[quote]… he also did a marvelous job perpetuating a stereotype that all Taiwanese are eager Japanese House Slaves. [/quote] That is just plain nasty of you to say. Japan is one of Taiwan’s most important allies in the WAR against the Communists. A war which the KMT has lost and now embraces the enemy of this states. Taiwan needs the Japanese and it is in Taiwan’s best interest to be their friend. Japanese house slave? Where the hell did you come up with that? Sounds like Communist Propaganda or nasty KMT slurs.