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Japan-Taiwan ties grow despite China objections http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=inDepthNews&storyID=2006-08-27T010648Z_01_TP356251_RTRUKOC_0_US-TAIWAN-JAPAN-TIES.xml&archived=False
Sat Aug 26, 2006
By Ralph Jennings
TAIPEI (Reuters) - When Japan's top-ranked sumo wrestler Asashoryu walked into a reception to kick off a sumo tournament in Taiwan, guests rushed to take his photo and mobbed his dinner table to get autographs. Mongolian-born Asashoryu, who has a record of 84 victories in a year, visited Taipei in August with 41 other wrestlers because organizers figured the uniquely Japanese contest of muscles and body weight would be a hit in Taiwan.
"We don't have this sport, and our relations with Japan are very close," said reception guest and Japanese company employee Lee Yan-ling, 34. "China doesn't like Japan, but we're like their family," she added.
The sumo event underscored ties between Japan and Taiwan that have quietly warmed as relations worsen between Japan and China. China considers Taiwan to be a renegade province that broke away after the 1949 civil war.
Taiwan, unlike many other Asian countries, did not condemn Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Yasukuni shrine, a Tokyo landmark that honors World War Two war criminals along with 2.5 million war dead.
Koizumi's August 15 visit to the shrine was slammed by China and South Korea as disrespectful to the victims of Japanese aggression during World War Two. Taiwan broke ranks by saying the government supported Koizumi's freedom of expression.
"Japan is afraid of China, so it will use Taiwan to oppose China," said Chang Jung-kung, director of China affairs for the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang, Taiwan's main opposition party.
JAPANESE CULTURE POPULAR
China and Japan regularly trade accusations of aggressive expansion of their armed forces and have disputes over gas drilling rights in the East China Sea.
China also complains that Japan has not atoned for its 1937-1945 occupation of Chinese territory. Chinese citizens occasionally call for boycotts of Japanese products.
Despite being occupied by Japan for 50 years until 1945, Taiwan enjoys good relations with its western Pacific neighbor.
Older Taiwanese are proudly fluent in Japanese and younger people are eager to adopt the latest trends from Japan.
Japanese-style city planning, architecture, comic books and food -- such as ready-to-eat sushi in almost every Taipei convenience store -- are popular throughout Taiwan.
"We look up to Japanese stars and fashion, and lots of people imitate Japan," said 23-year-old student Lin Chia-tseng.
Since last year Taiwanese citizens have been allowed to visit Japan without visas.
About 1.2 million Taiwanese visited Japan in 2005, while a similar number of Japanese tourists visited Taiwan.
The Japanese tourists sometimes choose Taiwan over China as a holiday destination because of Chinese hostility toward Japan, said Ryoji Takagaki, an official at Japan's de facto embassy in Taipei. Commercial ties are also close.
Japan is Taiwan's second largest trading partner. According to Taiwanese government data, trade between the two countries totaled $36.4 billion in the first seven months of 2006.
DELICATE BALANCE
Even though Japan's agreement with China forbids formal contact with Taiwan, informal political visits are common.
About 100 Japanese legislators visit Taiwan every year to learn about the island. The governor of Tokyo has visited many times.
"There are legislators who prefer Taiwan and don't like China," Takagaki said. "You know Japan's situation. They prefer democratic, free countries." Officials from Taiwan and Japan say they are trying to work out a deal on fishing rights near a group of disputed islands north of Taiwan.
The archipelago, known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyus in China, is claimed by China, Japan and Taiwan.
China has so far turned a blind eye to burgeoning Japanese-Taiwanese relations as long as Japan does not officially recognize Taiwan as independent from China, experts say.
"In their cultural contacts, they should see Taiwan as part of China," said Xu Shiquan, vice president of the National Society of Taiwan Studies in Beijing.
"If the Japanese government doesn't go back on its promises, then the mainland is not nervous."
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