Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe called for closer Japan-Taiwan ties by overcoming diplomatic and professional barriers in his first videoconference with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Tuesday night.
Tsai said there are many opportunities for the two nations to collaborate, as Taiwan strives for common goals with like-minded countries such as Japan and the US.
The two also discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific region.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
The Presidential Office said the bilateral talk last nearly 30 minutes and was part of an annual meeting of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, a cross-party Japanese parliamentary group comprising about 270 members.
At the beginning of their discussion, a full video of which was released by the Presidential Office yesterday, Tsai said she was delighted to meet with Abe virtually as they used to only talk by telephone.
The president thanked Japan for donating vaccines to Taiwan last year during a local outbreak of COVID-19.
Abe thanked Taiwan for its help after a massive earthquake struck Japan on March 11, 2011, and for donating medical supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tsai said that Taiwan had followed the lead of other countries in allowing the importation of food products banned following the 2011 Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster, showing its determination to remove trade barriers between the two countries.
Taiwan and Japan should join hands to bolster the economic power of the Indo-Pacific region, as economic growth is crucial to a nation’s stability, she added.
Regarding Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Abe said he hoped that Taiwan would meet its high standards and join the bloc soon.
The CPTPP was established by Japan with 10 other countries when Abe was prime minister and is expanding by adding new members.
Regarding the situation in Ukraine, Tsai said that Taiwan had imposed sanctions against Russia and provided humanitarian aid to Ukraine, adding that Taiwan would stand side-by-side with Ukraine, and uphold the values of democracy and freedom.
Abe said Russia’s invasion was a serious challenge to the international order, adding that Japan should cooperate with other countries in pressuring Moscow into a ceasefire and withdrawal.
Echoing Abe’s comments, Tsai condemned Russia for unilaterally changing the “status quo” and infringing on the rights of a democratic country, which must not be allowed in the Indo-Pacific region.
Tsai also thanked Japan for emphasizing the importance of stability across the Taiwan Strait at international events, saying that she hoped the two sides can maintain peace in the region.
Abe advocated for a free and open Indo-Pacific region, whose “status quo” is protected by international law and not altered by military force.
“It is important for Japan and Taiwan to share intelligence to keep the region stable,” Abe said.
Abe expressed his hope to visit Taiwan soon to exchange ideas with the president, who said she looked forward to greeting him in person.
Additional reporting by CNA
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers have declared they survived recall votes to remove them from office today, although official results are still pending as the vote counting continues. Although final tallies from the Central Election Commission (CEC) are still pending, preliminary results indicate that the recall campaigns against all seven KMT lawmakers have fallen short. As of 6:10 pm, Taichung Legislators Yen Kuan-heng (顏寬恒) and Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔), Hsinchu County Legislator Lin Szu-ming (林思銘), Nantou County Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) and New Taipei City Legislator Lo Ming-tsai (羅明才) had all announced they
CHAMPIONS: President Lai congratulated the players’ outstanding performance, cheering them for marking a new milestone in the nation’s baseball history Taiwan on Sunday won their first Little League Baseball World Series (LLBWS) title in 29 years, as Taipei’s Dong Yuan Elementary School defeated a team from Las Vegas 7-0 in the championship game in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was Taiwan’s first championship in the annual tournament since 1996, ending a nearly three-decade drought. “It has been a very long time ... and we finally made it,” Taiwan manager Lai Min-nan (賴敏男) said after the game. Lai said he last managed a Dong Yuan team in at the South Williamsport in 2015, when they were eliminated after four games. “There is
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday visited Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), as the chipmaker prepares for volume production of Nvidia’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) chips. It was Huang’s third trip to Taiwan this year, indicating that Nvidia’s supply chain is deeply connected to Taiwan. Its partners also include packager Siliconware Precision Industries Co (矽品精密) and server makers Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and Quanta Computer Inc (廣達). “My main purpose is to visit TSMC,” Huang said yesterday. “As you know, we have next-generation architecture called Rubin. Rubin is very advanced. We have now taped out six brand new
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
RSS