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
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