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
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.
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 foreign ministry welcomes various Japanese sectors to organise trips to Taiwan to deepen bilateral and substantive relations in all areas,” it said.
Huang Shih-chieh, a legislator from the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, said the group was expected to exchange views with Taiwanese authorities on security and trade issues during the visit.
Tsai met a delegation of lawmakers from the Youth Division of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party at her office in May. During the meeting, she called for close cooperation with Tokyo on security issues in the Taiwan Strait and Japan’s support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
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News of the upcoming visit came just as Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai returned from an unannounced trip to Tokyo to attend the funeral of Abe, which the island’s government said was a “personal trip” in his capacity as the late prime minister’s close friend.
Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory and has not ruled out the use of force to take it under its control, opposes official contact between the island and other nations, including visits by Taiwanese officials.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that Lai’s Tokyo trip was a “political scheme” that would not succeed.
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Lai, who returned to Taiwan on Tuesday, made no mention of his overnight trip. He is the highest-ranking Taiwan government official to visit Japan in decades.
Japanese media showed Lai at Abe’s private funeral service – attended by family members, foreign dignitaries, and close acquaintances of the former Japanese prime minister, including current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida – at the Zojoji Temple near Tokyo Tower.
Mark Chen, head of the Friends of Abe Shinzo Association in Taiwan, said it was unlikely that Kishida would stray from Abe’s political line, which had become increasingly anti-Beijing after he left office.
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“With the ruling LDP winning two-thirds of the Diet seats, Prime Minister Kishida is expected to adhere to Abe’s political line, which is to ally with the United States, [be] pro-Taiwan and counter China,” said Chen, a former Taiwanese foreign minister.
He said the LDP’s victory represented Japanese voters’ support of Abe’s political stance.
Tung Li-wen, an advisory committee member of the Taipei-based Taiwan Thinktank, said the fact that Japan had allowed Lai to visit reflected Kishida’s willingness to support Abe’s political stance towards the island.
“By allowing Lai to visit, Kishida meant to tell Taiwan there would be no change in friendly Taiwan-Japan relations,” Tung said, adding that the visit also signalled to Beijing that Japan would not change its Indo-Pacific strategy.
