“A Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency” is deeply rooted in the Japanese mind, Japan Innovation Party leader Nobuyuki Baba said yesterday, calling on the two sides to conduct higher-level security cooperation.
A 14-member cross-party parliamentary delegation led by Deputy Legislative Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) yesterday concluded a “fruitful” trip attending the Asian-Pacific Parliamentarians’ Union General Assembly in Tokyo, the Legislative Yuan said in a news release.
The delegation interacted with parliamentarians from various countries on the sidelines to help expand Taiwan’s international space, it said.
Photo: CNA
With the bonds of brotherhood between them, Taiwan and Japan should further bolster security cooperation, parliamentary exchanges and people-to-people ties, Baba said when he met with the delegation on Wednesday.
His party would encourage Japanese to visit Taiwan, which could help deepen friendship and cooperation and create prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, he said.
Chiang thanked the Japan Innovation Party for continuing to back Taiwan in the Japanese Diet and Japanese Representative Yuichiro Wada of the party for voicing support for Taiwan during the general assembly.
Later on the same day, the Taiwanese delegation met with senior members of the Japan-Republic of China Diet Members’ Consultative Council, including Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya and former Japanese president of the House of Councilors Akiko Santo, the legislature said, adding that the high-level welcome demonstrated that the council attaches great importance to relations with Taiwan.
Cooperation between the two countries has become more frequent and more important, Furuya said, adding that he looks forward to closer exchanges between the Diet and its Taiwanese counterpart.
Friendly relations between Taipei and Tokyo are supported by cross-party legislators, so they would not be affected by there not being a party with a majority in the new legislature sworn in last month, Chiang said.
The new legislature choosing Japan for its first overseas visit demonstrates that the ruling and opposition parties alike greatly value relations with Japan, he added.
Japanese Representative Takako Suzuki, the new director of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Youth Division, said that she had realized the important role the division played in exchanges between Japan and Taiwan, adding that the two sides could overcome any challenge with their solid ties.
Japanese Representative Kenta Izumi, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, expressed congratulations and admiration for the high level of democratic literacy demonstrated by the people of Taiwan during the presidential and legislative elections in January.
As the leader of the biggest opposition party in Japan, Izumi said that he hoped the party could win more seats in the next election and attend the general assembly next year in Taiwan, which was awarded the right to host the annual event on Tuesday.
Marshall Islands Parliament Vice Speaker Issac Zackhras said that the Pacific island country would continue supporting Taiwan, adding that the exchanges with the Taiwanese delegation during the general assembly would help deepen the bilateral ties.
During the session on Tuesday, Japan, Palau, the Marshall Islands and Guam all expressed their gratitude to Taiwan for its assistance with climate change issues — which was the theme of this year’s assembly — and expressed hopes to continue deepening exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
TRADE-OFF: Beijing seeks to trade a bowl of tempura for a Chinese delicacy, an official said, while another said its promises were attempts to interfere in the polls The government must carefully consider the national security implications of building a bridge connecting Kinmen County and Xiamen, China, the Public Construction Commission (PCC) said yesterday. PCC Commissioner Derek Chen (陳金德), who is also a minister without portfolio, made the remarks in a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, after Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsu Fu-kuei (徐富癸) asked about China’s proposal of new infrastructure projects to further connect Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties with Xiamen. China unveiled the bridge plan, along with nine other policies for Taiwan, on Sunday, the last day of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) visit
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