Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Japanese political circles were pleased to see the party back on its feet, at the conclusion of her four-day visit to Japan.
Speaking with reporters at Taoyuan Airport, Tsai said Japanese politicians were paying great attention to Taiwanese politics and were happy to see the DPP bounce back.
The revival of the DPP is viewed by Japanese as an indication of Taiwan’s democracy, she said.
Tsai said Japan was very concerned about security in the Taiwan Strait, adding that she was able to exchange views on the China issue with several prominent figures.
During the trip, Tsai met several former Japanese prime ministers and key players from the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Tsai was quoted as saying that the selection of Japan as her first and only foreign destination after the Dec. 5 local elections highlighted the high respect the DPP has for Taiwans’ neighbor to the north.
Meanwhile, outgoing Japanese representative to Taiwan Masaki Saito last night hosted his last event before heading home following his resignation two weeks ago.
The seasoned diplomat was listed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as “persona non grata” after he said Taiwan’s status remained “undetermined” at an academic function in May.
The Japanese Interchange Association said Saito was quitting for “personal reasons,” but it has been widely rumored that the Taiwanese and Japanese governments were happy to see him go because he had become a defunct diplomat after his controversial remarks.
At the reception, Saito said in Mandarin that this past year marked many important milestones in Taiwan-Japan ties, such as the agreement on the youth working holiday program and the signing of air pact that will allow direct flights from Tokyo Haneda Airport to Taipei Songshan Airport starting in October.
Foreign Minister Timothy Yang (楊進添) touted the relationship and promised to strengthen ties for the mutual benefit of both people.
Saito will end his 17-month stint on Sunday.
He will be succeeded by Tadashi Imai, Japan’s former ambassador to Malaysia and Israel.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
UNAWARE: Many people sit for long hours every day and eat unhealthy foods, putting them at greater risk of developing one of the ‘three highs,’ an expert said More than 30 percent of adults aged 40 or older who underwent a government-funded health exam were unaware they had at least one of the “three highs” — high blood pressure, high blood lipids or high blood sugar, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) said yesterday. Among adults aged 40 or older who said they did not have any of the “three highs” before taking the health exam, more than 30 percent were found to have at least one of them, Adult Preventive Health Examination Service data from 2022 showed. People with long-term medical conditions such as hypertension or diabetes usually do not
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching