“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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS