Beijing \u2018unlikely to tolerate\u2019 symbolic weight of Taiwan\u2019s presence at the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, observer says.<\/b>
\nTaiwan is set to join Japan\u2019s memorial ceremonies next month for the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings, marking the island\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s event.
Japanese media reports said although Suzuki had asserted in May that Taiwan did not fall into either of those categories, the island\u2019s expression of desire to attend the August 9 ceremony had prompted the city to consider ways to accommodate its request.<\/p>\n