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TOKYO, Monday, Feb. 6 — The quarrel between Tokyo and Beijing over Japan's colonial and wartime history spilled over to the sensitive topic of Taiwan over the weekend, after Japan's foreign minister praised his country's past rule over the island.

東京，二月六號──這週末，就在日本外務總理讚揚自己國家過去對台灣的統治之後，介於東京與北京之間對日本殖民及戰時歷史的爭論，延伸到台灣這個敏感議題上頭。

 The minister, Taro Aso, said in a speech on Saturday that Taiwan's present high educational standards resulted from Japanese colonial policies. , which ceded Taiwan after losing a war to Japan in 1895 and considers the island a renegade province, condemned the comments on Sunday.

 

該大臣，Taro Aso，在演講中指出台灣目前的高教育水平歸功於日本的殖民政策。中國，在1895年因戰敗將台灣割讓給日本且目前將台灣視為被判者，於星期日譴責此言論。

 

Mr. Aso said that "thanks to the significant improvement in educational standards and literacy" during Japan's colonial rule, "Taiwan is now a country with a very high education level and keeps up with the current era."

 

Aso先生提到，在日本殖民時期「由於在教育水準與識字能力有顯著的改進」「現在台灣可以成為一個高教育水平的國家，並能齊頭趕上當前的時代。」

 

"This is something I was told by an important figure in Taiwan and all the elderly people knew about it," he said, according to Kyodo News. "That was a time when I felt that, as expected, our predecessors did a good thing."

 

根據Kyodo新聞，他說「這些是我聽一個台灣重要人士說的，而且是所有老一輩的人都知道的事實」，「在聽的當下，可以預期的，我覺得我們的先人真是做了件好事。」  

 

Mr. Aso, who is considered a hawk, angered China and South Korea last week when he said it would be appropriate for the emperor to visit the Yasukuni Shrine, the memorial that honors Japan's war dead as well as 14 Japanese war criminals.

 

被視為鷹派人物的Aso先生，於上星期表示皇室參訪Yasukuni Shrine（讚揚戰死者及14位日本戰犯的紀念館）是相當合宜的，此言觸怒了中國及南韓。 

 

Along with Shinzo Abe, another hawk who is the chief cabinet minister, Mr. Aso is considered one of the leading candidates to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi after he retires in September. 

 

如同Shinzo Abe，另一個鷹派人物且為內官房大臣，Aso先生被視為即將於九月退休之首相Junichiro Koizumi的主要接班人之一。 

 

China reacts acutely to any perceived foreign encroachment on Taiwanese affairs. Not surprisingly, the Chinese responded perhaps even more sharply than usual because those comments came from Japan. 

 

中國對任何所國外干預台灣事務之訊息皆立即給予回應。不意外地，此次中國的回應比以往要來的猛烈，因為這次放話的是日本。 

"We are shocked by and express our strong indignation over the Japanese foreign minister's remark of overtly glorifying invasion history," said the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Kong Quan, according to the official New China News Agency. 

 

根據官方New China News Agency，中國外務部發言人Kong Quan表示「對於日本外務大臣過度美化侵略事實的言論，我們感到相當震驚並表達極度的憤怒不滿。」 

 

Japanese rule "made Taiwan people suffer enslavement and brought grave disaster to the Chinese nation," Mr. Kong said. "It is fact that everyone in the world knows."

 

日本的統治「使得台灣人民遭受奴化並對華人國家帶來極大的災難，」Kong先生表示「這是全天下的人都知道的事實。」

 

The exchange came as United States officials have been expressing more publicly their worries about rising tensions in East Asia and deteriorating relations between Japan and China. They have signaled their worries that Japan, its main ally in this region, has become increasingly isolated, especially over Mr. Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine.

 

美國官方曾公開表示他們對於東亞日益緊張的情勢及日本中國間不斷惡化的關係感到憂慮。美國曾對日本，美方此區域主要的同盟，暗中表示其對日本的擔憂，特別是在Koizumi先生在參拜Yasukuni Shrine之後。

"I believe there is a point of tension here," said Deputy Secretary of State Robert B. Zoellick in a recent news conference here, "and what I have tried to suggest is that one way to defuse some of the tension on both sides is to have what is called in diplomatic parlance a 'track two' effort, perhaps have historians of China and Japan, perhaps the United States, too, examine the historical situation in World War II and perhaps other periods as well."

「我相信在這裡有個壓力點，」副國卿Robert B. Zoellick在日前的記者會中表示「而我曾試圖提出一個去除雙方面的緊張的建議，運用外交上說的「第二軌道」（track two）效果，或許可以讓中國及日本的歷史學家，也許美國的歷史學家也一起加入，共同再次檢視第二次世界大戰或其他時期的歷史局勢。」 

 
from New York Times on th web  Japanese Remarks About Taiwan Anger Beijing

 

注一：track two第二軌道
後冷戰時代全球事務日益複雜化，已非政治、軍事層面所能概括。對於若干區域及國家而言，許多議題仍摻雜高度的敏感性，透過非官方正式的溝通管道，由學者、專家或以私人身份參與的官員，所組成的對話溝通與討論問題的聚會或管道，稱為「第二軌道」(Track Two)外交。「亞太安全合作理事會」（Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific, CSCAP)為因應亞太地區複雜而多元的安全議題而產生，提供「第二軌道」外交的功能，是亞太地區最具規模的「第二軌道」機制。
from 政治學堂

注二：延伸報導
中共和美國於昨日在北京舉行高層會談，由於日本首相小泉純一郎一再參拜靖國神社，中共與日本關係嚴重惡化，作為化解僵局的方案，美國副國務卿左里克提議美國、中共、日本三國的民間學者共同驗證歷史。對此，中共表示「東亞歷史有其特殊性」，事實上予以拒絕。
from 中央日報  美籲中共設國際協調機制