All eyes on Beijing as Taiwan set to attend Japan’s WWII memorials in a first

Taiwan is set to join Japan’s memorial ceremonies next month for the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, marking the island’s first participation in the annual events.

Observers said Beijing was likely to take a dim view of the matter, though the scale of its response might depend on the rank of the Taiwanese attendees.

Nagasaki mayor Shiro Suzuki said on Saturday that the city had accepted Taiwan’s request to attend its August 9 ceremony in memory of the victims of the 1945 US bombing, reversing a previous decision.

The city, which triggered controversy last year for excluding Israel because of its actions in the Gaza Strip, has invited all countries and regions with diplomatic missions or UN representative offices in Japan to this year’s event.

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Japanese media reports said although Suzuki had asserted in May that Taiwan did not fall into either of those categories, the island’s expression of desire to attend the August 9 ceremony had prompted the city to consider ways to accommodate its request.