Taiwan representative skips Nagasaki atomic bombing anniversary ceremony

Taiwan's de facto ambassador to Japan, Lee Yi-yang, declined to attend a memorial service on Sunday commemorating the 81st anniversary of the U.S. atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Lee accused the organizers of marginalizing Taiwan by placing his office's seat outside the designated diplomatic area. This act, Lee claimed, undermined Taiwan's dignity and status as an independent nation.

Japan severed all official diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1972, following a shift in recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In lieu of Lee, Chen Ming-chun, the director of the Fukuoka branch of Taiwan's Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Osaka, attended the ceremony. China, a communist-led nation that considers Taiwan a rebellious province destined for reunification by force if necessary, generally opposes any form of official engagement between Taiwan and countries maintaining diplomatic relations with Beijing.

Lee, who assumed his position in September 2024, did participate in a similar ceremony in Hiroshima on Thursday, the anniversary of the 1945 atomic bombing of that city, where he said he was treated equally with other envoys. Last year, Lee was the first Taiwanese representative in Tokyo to attend both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki memorials despite facing the same indignity.