The city council of Japanese city Ishigaki is scheduled to submit a proposal to change the name of the Diaoyutai Islands to Tonoshiro Senkaku. Diaoyutai Islands groups therefore staged a protest outside the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association on June 9, calling Japan's behavior unreasonable and rude and accusing it of infringing on Taiwan's sovereignty. Meanwhile, fishermen expressed concerns over possible restrictions on fishing rights, which would affect their livelihoods.


Protect fishing rights! Protect fishing rights! Uphold sovereignty! Uphold sovereignty!

Protesters chanted slogans outside the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association, which was protected by a line of police officers. This protest was organized by associations asserting Taiwan's sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands. They accused the city council of Japanese city Ishigaki of taking advantage of frozen cross-strait ties and the epidemic situation to unilaterally propose changing the name of the Diaoyutai Islands to Tonoshiro Senkaku. The city council is scheduled to vote on June 22.

All of the actions they have taken, including chasing away our fishermen, changing the name, like they are doing today, altering textbooks, are the actions of bandits.

The association did not send anyone out to receive the petition compiled by the protesters, making the protesters so angry that they decided to just tear up the petition on the spot. This was not only an issue of sovereignty, but also involved the livelihood of fishermen. Fishermen worried that they would be subject to fishing rights restrictions in the future. They said Ishigaki and Yilan's Suao used to be sister cities and accused Japan of deliberately making trouble out of nothing. They called on the government to come out and defend Taiwan's sovereignty.

Japan has asserted sovereignty, and next it will assert authority and say the exclusive economic zone belongs to them. Once several years have passed since this change takes place, our fishing rights will be further restricted. The government has to take an opposing stance, otherwise the consequences will be too horrible to imagine.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs sternly reaffirms that the Diaoyutai Islands are an intrinsic part of our national territory. It is a fact that we have sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands, and that will not change because a country or a regional government changes the name.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lodged a protest with Japan and reasserted Taiwan's sovereignty. Meanwhile, Japanese newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo quoted Ishigaki Mayor Yoshitaka Nakamaya as saying the preparations for the name change have been completed, which is why the proposal was submitted to the city council at this time. However, this explanation was not accepted by the protesters and they said they will continue to resist in order to uphold sovereignty and fishing rights.



「保護漁權、保護漁權；保障主權、保障主權。」

層層警力包圍日本交流協會，就怕發生衝突，保釣團體抗議日本石垣市議會趁著兩岸矛盾、疫情肆虐之際，片面提出要將釣魚台更名為登野城尖閣的提案，並預定22號院會處理，根本就是趁火打劫。

釣魚台教育協會理事長 陳美霞表示：「包括驅趕我們的漁民，包括改名，像今天一樣，改名、命名…另外命名，那修改教科書，他們做這些事，是一個強盜的行為。」

日本交流協會並沒有派出代表來接受抗議書，保釣團體在現場直接怒撕抗議書，因爲這不只是主權之戰，漁民們也很擔憂漁權受限，生計會遭到衝擊，漁民認為，沖繩石垣市和宜蘭蘇澳鎮原本就是姊妹市，日本現在觸碰敏感神經、無端生事，呼籲政府要出面表態捍衛主權。

蘇澳區漁會 總幹事 陳春生表示：「主權來先弄了之後，是不是再來就是權力是他的？是不是表示兩百經濟海域，是屬於他們的？改了之後，幾年之後，漁權又會被壓縮了啊！政府要提出反對的意見，不然後果的話，會不堪設想，」

外交部發言人 歐江安表示：「外交部我們這邊嚴正重申，釣魚台的列島，這個是我們固有的領土，無庸置疑，我國擁有釣魚台主權的一個事實，不會因為任何國家，或者是它的地方政府，將相關的島嶼改名，而有所改變。」

外交部也向日方表達嚴正抗議，重申主權不變的立場，當地媒體琉球新報7號指出，石垣市長中山義隆表示，已經做好更名手續的準備，所以向市議會提案，此時更名並沒有意圖。不過這番說法，保釣團體和漁民都不領情，預告會有下一波行動繼續抗爭，捍衛主權和漁權。