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Japan-Taiwan ties get boost from Taipei mayor’s Tokyo visit and ‘closely linked’ security concerns about Beijing
- Japan has always been a strong supporter of Taiwan, and Tokyo’s concern about Taiwan’s security has ‘grown’ in recent years, analysts say
- A trip to Tokyo by Taipei’s mayor, who is tipped as a future presidential candidate, is the latest indication of the growing closeness of Japan and Taiwan
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A visit to Tokyo by a rising star of the Taiwanese political scene and plans for an unprecedented number of Japanese politicians to travel to Taipei for the May 20 inauguration of the new president have underlined the growing links between Japan and Taiwan.
The relationship is “evolving”, an analyst said, noting that while Japan has always been a strong supporter of Taiwan, its politicians and the public are now aware that any attempt to build closer ties with Taipei will inevitably incur the wrath of mainland China and so they no longer feel the need to tiptoe around the issue.
“There has long been concern in Japan about the security of Taiwan as it is clear that Japan’s security is closely linked,” said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
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“That concern has become grown in recent years and that is why we are seeing the relationship evolving,” he told This Week in Asia.
There has long been concern in Japan about the security of Taiwan as it is clear that Japan’s security is closely linked
“I also see greater willingness to be open and talk about the fact that China is a hostile country,” he said.
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