TAIPEI: Taiwan’s first lady has postponed a rare visit to Japan after a diplomatic row over the wording of posters promoting the island’s exhibition in Tokyo of treasured artefacts.
Chow Mei-ching, wife of President Ma Ying-jeou, was to leave yesterday for today’s opening of the exhibition, at which hundreds of artefacts and artworks from the Taipei National Palace Museum would have gone on display in Japan for the first time.
The Taipei museum has said the Tokyo National Museum guaranteed in a contract that the lender’s full name would be used and that the word “national” would not be omitted in promotional posters and tickets.
But less than a week before the opening, the Taipei museum said the Tokyo museum had failed to use the word “national” on many of its posters and tickets.
The name issue has long been a sensitive topic for Taiwan, which is recognised by only 22 countries after a decades-old diplomatic tug-of-war with China from which it split in 1949.
On Friday Ma’s spokeswoman Ma Wei-kuo warned in a strongly-worded statement that “national dignity definitely comes before cultural exchanges”.
The spokeswoman confirmed yesterday that the first lady’s trip was postponed but would not provide details. The Taipei museum said yesterday its Tokyo counterpart had shown “sincerity” by taking down the problematic posters and other measures.
AFP
