A Japanese parliamentary delegation led by former Japanese minister of defense Shigeru Ishiba arrived in Taiwan yesterday.
Speaking to reporters upon arrival at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport), Ishiba said that the delegation would hold talks with Taiwanese officials on regional security issues.
The visit is to last until Saturday. Three Japanese lawmakers who had been part of the delegation had to drop out after testing positive for COVID-19.
Photo: CNA
The four-person delegation would meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Vice President William Lai (賴清德), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and other senior government officials, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
They would also visit the Executive Yuan, the Legislative Yuan, the Ministry of National Defense and local think tanks to exchange views with officials and academics on Taiwan-Japan security issues, it said.
Delegation members would also visit Wuzhi Mountain Military Cemetery in New Taipei City to pay their respects to former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). Lee, Taiwan’s first popularly elected president who passed away in 2020 at the age of 97, spoke fluent Japanese and was known for his pro-Japan views.
The delegation also includes former Japanese minister of defense Yasukazu Hamada, former Japanese deputy minister of defense Akihisa Nakashima and Takayuki Shimizu.
Ishiba, Hamada and Nakashima are members of the lower House of Representatives, while Shimizu is a member of the upper House of Councilors.
They are members of a Japanese parliamentarian association on security issues established by Ishiba and Hamada in November 2019, the foreign ministry said.
Ishiba, 65, of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, ran for party chair in 2012, but lost to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), executive director of the Institute for National Policy Research and an expert on Japanese affairs, told the Central News Agency (CNA) that this is the highest-level Japanese delegation to visit Taiwan since the two countries severed diplomatic ties in 1972.
The visit comes as the Japanese government prepares to publish three defense papers by the end of this year, Kuo said, adding that the trip is likely meant for the lawmakers to evaluate the situation in Taiwan.
Another Japan expert, Wang Tsun-yen (王尊彥) of the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told the CNA that Japan referred to Taiwan as an “extremely important partner” in its annual defense white paper published last week, which has a significantly wider coverage of the Taiwan issue than last year’s paper.
This shows that Tokyo has recognized Taipei’s strategic position in relation to Japan and is putting more emphasis on Taiwan’s security, Wang said.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
STEERING FAILURE: The first boat of its class is experiencing teething issues as it readies for acceptance by the navy, according to a recent story about rudder failure The Hai Kun (海鯤), the nation’s first locally built submarine, allegedly suffered a total failure of stern hydraulic systems during the second round of sea acceptance trials on June 26, and sailors were forced to manually operate the X-rudder to turn the submarine and return to port, news Web site Mirror Daily reported yesterday. The report said that tugboats following the Hai Kun assisted the submarine in avoiding collisions with other ships due to the X-rudder malfunctioning. At the time of the report, the submarine had completed its trials and was scheduled to begin diving and surfacing tests in shallow areas. The X-rudder,
RSS