Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Beijing Annexes Student Dorm

Readers may recall that back in October I reported on the ownership controversy of a student dorm in Japan. China scored once again in its quest to annex everything Taiwanese, as the PRC grabbed a student dorm they had never owned with the court ruling in its favor.

On Tuesday, Japan's Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that recognized the ownership of the dormitory by Taiwan.

The top court overthrew a 1987 Osaka High Court decision in Taiwan's favour and sent the suit back to the Kyoto District Court to re-examine the case.

The dispute involves the ownership of the five-storey student dormitory outside Kyoto University, called Kokaryo (Chinese Dormitory), which the university built in 1945.

The Chinese Nationalist Government, which fled to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War in 1949, bought Kokaryo in 1952 for Taiwanese students in Kyoto, but it was also open to students from the mainland.

In 1976, a year after mainland students took over Kokaryo, Taiwan filed a law suit with the Kyoto District Court demanding it back.


There's a lesson here....


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's hard to understand the reasoning behind the supreme court decision. Even if Japan and the ROC no longer have diplomatic relations, the dorm is property bought and paid for by the Taiwanese government. It shouldn't be handed over to the Chinese. This isn't an embassy or consulate in dispute here.