THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
July 7, 2023 at 16:21 JST
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki prays on July 6 at a cemetery where past visitors to Fuzhou from the Ryukyu Kingdom are buried. (Provided by the Okinawa prefectural government)
FUZHOU, China--Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki visited sites here with close ties to his southernmost prefecture as part of engaging in regional diplomacy.
On July 6, Tamaki met with Zhou Zuyi, the Chinese Communist Party secretary for Fujian province, or the top official in the province in southeastern China.
Okinawa and Fujian signed a sister prefecture-province agreement in 1997, and a friendship hall was built the following year.
While in Fuzhou, Tamaki also visited a cemetery where envoys and students from what was then the Ryukyu Kingdom (1429-1879) are buried. They traveled to China during the Ming and Qing dynasties before dying in Fuzhou.
Tamaki also visited the Ryukyu-kan. The facility stands on a site that served as a base for visitors from the Ryukyu Kingdom who were headed to the Chinese capital, according to Chinese media.
From the 14th century, the Ryukyu Kingdom was involved in trade with not only China, but other nations in East Asia. Fujian province was, in essence, the gateway to China for envoys from the kingdom.
While Japan and China have competing claims over the Senkaku Islands, Tamaki said at the Okinawa prefectural assembly before his visit that he would not explain the central government’s stance during his meetings with Chinese officials.
That led some opposition assembly members in Okinawa to express their displeasure.
In speaking with reporters in Beijing on July 5, Tamaki said the Senkaku issue was between the two nations.
“From the perspective of supporting the central government’s diplomacy through Okinawa Prefecture’s regional diplomacy, I will strive to construct relationships of trust with various local regions across a range of areas to develop a future-oriented course in business, tourism and exchanges between people,” he said.
(This article was written by Taro Ono and Sotaro Hata, a correspondent in Fuzhou.)
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