When Taiwan-Japan relations run afoul, there's always Hatta Yoichi

TAIPEI — The Japanese animated movie "Hatta Yoichi" was given wide theatrical release Friday in Taiwan, but few moviegoers here are likely to grasp its political significance.

Symbolism: Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou speaks at the premiere of the Japanese film "Hatta Yoichi" in Tainan, Taiwan, on Nov. 4. KYODO PHOTO

Purely as "anime" entertainment, the film has much to offer young Taiwanese unconcerned with politics. But it is also a historical biography, and the significance has not been lost on President Ma Ying-jeou, who attended a special showing Nov. 4 in southern Taiwan before the general release.

With bodyguards and dignitaries in tow, Ma made a point of traveling to Tainan to attend the two-hour local premiere. For Ma, the film crystallizes his vision for even-keeled Taiwan-Japan relations.

But where the movie appeals to the Taiwanese administration, the reality of bilateral relations misses the mark, as gaffes and hurt feelings have abounded between Taipei and Tokyo since Ma took office last year — a reality spurring him to bring into play his vision through politically charged sites, figures — and even cartoons.

"Hatta Yoichi" is about the Japanese engineer who planned and supervised the construction of southern Taiwan's Wusantou Reservoir, which was completed in 1930. Japan ruled Taiwan from 1895 until 1945.

Despite some lingering postcolonial resentment, Japan is generally credited in Taiwan for improving the island's infrastructure, rule of law, educational system and social services during its 50-year rule.

Among Japan's achievements, Wusantou ranks as one of its most popular, with the dam taming the waters of southern Taiwan and ending a drought for millions of farmers, according to the film and Ma.

Wusantou is still in operation, while Hatta is lionized as a humanist who treated local laborers as equals and worked tirelessly for Taiwan's benefit.

"Because of Mr. Hatta's efforts, a desert became fertile cropland . . . (his) kind, upright character is akin to that of the Taiwanese," Ma said at the Tainan premiere.

Produced by the Hokkoku Shimbun and funded by the Tainan County Government as well as Tokyo's de facto embassy in Taipei, the film adds to the political symbolism that Ma has already lent to Hatta and his dam.

Though Wusantou has been a symbol of bilateral friendship, Ma has further amplified its political meaning through special visits and functions.

For example, Ma observed the 67th anniversary of Hatta's death in a ceremony May 8 held at a bronze statue of the engineer overlooking the reservoir.

Last year, Ma arranged for the Taiwanese and Japanese de facto ambassadors to meet at the reservoir and take a tour.

The site was chosen to encourage a rapport between the envoys and underscore bilateral friendship.

"Since President Ma took office, Japan's image of him has been one of cuddling up to China and moving away from Japan, and so he seeks to use Hatta Yoichi to counter this image," said Luo Fu-chuan, a former Taiwanese envoy to Japan. "Tokyo suspects President Ma of wanting to get in bed with Beijing."

Indeed, while Ma has wooed China, restarted formal negotiations across the Taiwan Strait and signed trade agreements with Beijing, Taipei's relations with Tokyo have mostly stagnated.

Last year, a collision between a Japan Coast Guard vessel and a Taiwanese fishing boat in disputed waters near the Senkaku Islands touched off a diplomatic spat about sovereignty over and access to the uninhabited islets and surrounding area.

Since May, Ma has been reluctant to meet with Japan's envoy to Taipei, Makoto Saito, who angered Ma by referring to Taiwan's international status as "unresolved."

The remark came as a slap in the face to the Ma administration, which insists on the sovereignty of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name.

And Taipei's much-touted plans to open a new representative office in Hokkaido have quietly faded away — apparently a sign that the Ma administration's interest in Japan is flagging.

But amid the currently chilly ties, Hatta and his reservoir perhaps have taken on more political significance than ever as one of the few remaining, and thus more precious, symbols of positive relations.

For Ma, they remain symbols to fall back on.