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Japanese lawmakers to visit Taiwan on security, trade trip
- Seven legislators will travel to the island later this month, but it is not yet known whether they will meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen
- The announcement comes as Taiwanese vice-president’s trip to Tokyo to attend funeral of Shinzo Abe draws mainland government’s ire
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Seven Japanese lawmakers will visit Taiwan later this month in an apparent show of support for the island, according to Frank Hsieh, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to Tokyo.
Hsieh said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that it was particularly meaningful for the legislators, who belong to a cross-party parliamentary group focused on security affairs, to visit Taiwan following the death of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Hsieh said the upcoming trip showed the Diet’s support for Taiwan would continue despite Abe’s death, and more Japanese legislators with “shared values of freedom and democracy” had joined the “pro-Taiwan camp”, increasing its influence.
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Abe, 67, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, was gunned down at a campaign rally in the southern city of Nara on Friday.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry confirmed the upcoming visit but said it would only announce the names of the delegates and details of the trip “at an appropriate time”.
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The ministry stressed that Taiwan and Japan had maintained close exchanges for years, and it was normal for the two sides to continue now that they had relaxed Covid-19 border controls.
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