With the Japanese Diet wrapping up its session today, several influential Japanese lawmakers are scheduled to visit Taiwan this and next month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) affiliated Taiwan-Japan Relations Association said yesterday.
Starting on Sunday, Koichi Hagiuda, a member of the House of Representatives and secretary-general of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, is to lead a delegation of city councilors of Greater Tokyo’s Hachioji City to Taiwan for a three-day visit, association Deputy Secretary-General Lin Yu-hui (林郁慧) said.
On Monday, members of the House of Representatives Keisuke Suzuki, a former minister of justice, and Akihisa Nagashima, a former special adviser to the prime minister, are also to visit for three days, she said.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
Moreover, Hirofumi Takinami, a member of the House of Councillors and former state minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, who contributed to allowing Taiwanese to list “Taiwan” as their nationality on Japan’s household registration system, would be leading a delegation to Taiwan in the coming days, she said.
Thirty Japanese lawmakers would be visiting between the end of the year and early next year, demonstrating the deepening friendship and closer ties between the two nations, as well as Japan’s regard for parliamentary exchanges and its willingness to continue strengthening connections with Taiwan on the foundation of shared democratic values, Lin said.
In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has since 2010 been holding a workshop for Japan’s young political workers, such as parliamentary assistants, political party workers and local councilors, to gain a deeper understanding of Taiwan by visiting the nation.
Twenty people have been invited to this year’s workshop, which is to be held from Monday to Friday next week, Lin said.
The visits come amid tensions between Beijing and Tokyo after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Nov. 7 suggested that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
China yesterday reiterated its demand that Japan retract Takaichi’s remarks about Taiwan.
“On key issues, Japan is still ‘squeezing toothpaste’ and ‘burying nails,’ attempting to obfuscate and muddle through,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Guo Jiakun (郭嘉昆) said during a regular news briefing, adding that Beijing is “firmly opposed to this.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
SILENCING CRITICS: In addition to blocking Taiwan, China aimed to prevent rights activists from speaking out against authoritarian states, a Cabinet department said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned transnational repression by Beijing after RightsCon, a major digital human rights conference scheduled to be held in Zambia this week, was abruptly canceled due to Chinese pressure over Taiwanese participation. This year’s RightsCon, the world’s largest conference discussing issues “at the intersection of human rights and technology,” was scheduled to take place from tomorrow to Friday in Lusaka, and expected to draw 2,600 in-person attendees from 150 countries, along with 1,100 online participants. However, organizers were forced to cancel the event due to behind-the-scenes pressure from China, the ministry said, expressing its “strongest condemnation”
Taiwan’s economy grew far faster than expected in the first quarter, as booming demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications drove a surge in exports, spilling over into investment and consumption, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. GDP growth was 13.69 percent year-on-year during the January-to-March period, beating the DGBAS’ February forecast by 2.23 percentage points and marking the most robust growth in nearly four decades, DGBAS senior official Chiang Hsin-yi (江心怡) told a news conference in Taipei. The result was powered by exports, which remain the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, Chiang said. Outbound shipments jumped 51.12 percent year-on-year to
DELAYED BUT DETERMINED: The president’s visit highlights Taiwan’s right to international engagement amid regional pressure from China President Willaim Lai (賴清德) yesterday arrived in Eswatini, more than a week after his planned visit to Taiwan’s sole African ally was suspended because of revoked overflight permits. “The visit, originally scheduled for April 22, was postponed due to unforeseen external factors,” Lai wrote on social media. “After several days of careful arrangements by our diplomatic and national security teams, we successfully arrived today.” Lai said he looked forward to further deepening Taiwan-Eswatini relations through closer cooperation in the economy, agriculture, culture and education, as well as advancing the nation’s international partnerships. The president was initially scheduled to arrive in time to celebrate
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC) yesterday said the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with Tehran, after US President Donald Trump disparaged Iran’s latest peace proposal. Negotiations between the two countries have been deadlocked since a ceasefire came into effect on April 8, with only one round of direct peace talks held so far. Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies reported that Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan, but Trump was quick to cast doubt on it. “I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but
RSS