Closer bilateral collaboration between Taiwan and Japan is important to enhance joint deterrence capabilities and prevent a “Taiwan contingency,” Japanese Representative Keisuke Suzuki told a news conference in Taipei yesterday as he concluded a three-day visit to the country.
Suzuki, a former Japanese minister of justice in the Cabinet of former Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba and a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), arrived on Monday with his delegation.
They met with President William Lai (賴清德), Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安).
Photo: CNA
“We exchanged views concerning ways to enhance Japan-Taiwan relations, and touched on issues relating to the latest regional situations,” Suzuki said via an interpreter.
“We have concluded that to make sure a Taiwan contingency does not happen, we need to beef up our deterrence capabilities,” he said, without elaborating.
Asked whether he discussed ways to enhance bilateral defense cooperation during the meetings in Taipei, Suzuki did not give a direct answer.
He refused to disclose details of his talks with Taiwanese officials, saying only that both sides agreed to work closely to uphold regional peace and stability.
Japanese representatives Akihisa Nagashima, a former special adviser to Ishiba, and Junichi Kanda, a former vice minister of justice, both of the LDP, were also members of the delegation.
Their visit came as Tokyo and Beijing spar over remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi about Japan’s potential response to a “Taiwan contingency.”
Takaichi said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would count as a situation threatening Japan’s survival and thus could warrant a military response from Tokyo, which drew an angry reaction from Beijing.
China’s actions against Japan have included travel and study advisories, a ban on Japanese marine products and military drills.
Nagashima told the news conference that the Taipei trip was planned months in advance and has nothing to do with the situation with China.
Lawmakers traveling overseas to conduct exchanges would continue despite the lack of official ties between Tokyo and Taipei, he said.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS