【By Stacy Hsu】

The government has yet to find common ground with the Japanese government on the issue of reparations for Taiwanese “comfort women,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.

Speaking at a routine news conference, Association for East Asian Relations Secretary-General Peter Tsai said that he met with officials at the Interchange Association, Japan, the day after the Japanese Cabinet approved a payment of ￥1 billion (US$9.77 million) to the South Korean Reconciliation and Healing Foundation to be used as reparations for South Korean comfort women.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan also met with Japanese government officials in Tokyo the same day to reiterate the government’s hope that Japan would properly address the issue of Taiwanese comfort women, Tsai said.

“Japan gave us the same response, which was that it has ‘faced the matter honestly’ by setting up the Asian Women’s Fund in 1995. This is not the answer we are looking for,” Tsai said.

Taipei wants Tokyo to respond to its four demands: an official apology by the Japanese government; restoration of the honor and dignity of the women; allocating appropriate compensation; and an effort to help take care of the surviving comfort women, Tsai said.

Regarding the talks between Taipei and Tokyo on maritime cooperation, which were postponed indefinitely last month to allow more time for preparation, Tsai said the two nations restarted the negotiations last week.

“Both sides hope to set a date for the delayed talks over maritime cooperation,” Tsai said, adding that the exact time for the bilateral talks has yet to be determined.

The dialogue mechanism was established in May after relations between the two nations were strained following the seizure of a Taiwanese fishing boat by the Japan Coast Guard on April 25 about 150 nautical miles (277.8km) east-southeast of the Okinotori atoll.

The mechanism was created under the framework of the Taipei-based Association of East Asian Relations and its Japanese counterpart, the Interchange Association, Japan.

[Taipei Times, 2016-08-31]