Taiwan’s President TsaiIng-wen vowed to strengthen security cooperation with Japan in order to preserve freedom and stability in the Indo-Pacific. This was during a meeting that he had with a member of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
While Japan and Taiwan, which is democratically-governed by China, do not have diplomatic relations, the two countries have strong unofficial relationships and share concern about China’s increased military activity near them.
Tsai met in Taipei’s presidential office to thank Koichi Hagiuda (the LDP’s policy chief) for his support on issues such as maintaining security in Taiwan Strait.
She said, “We’ve seen that the Taiwan-Japan relationship has become closer in recent years.”
“In the future Taiwan will deepen its cooperation with Japan on various fields like security, and work together for the stability, freedom, and openness of the Indo-Pacific Region.”
Hagiuda stated that Taiwan is a friend and shared common values.
He said, “Taiwan, an extremely important friend and partner of Japan, shares fundamental values like liberal democracy, basic rights and the rule of Law, as well close economic relations, and personal exchanges.”
“In this setting, our cooperation and help has grown over the years.”
Hagiuda will be in Taipei for a Sunday forum on Taiwan-Japan relations. He also told Tsai that he would pay respects to the grave of ex-President Lee Teng-hui.
Lee was born in Japan and died in Taiwan two years ago. He was known as “Mr. Democracy”, because he buried autocratic rule to promote freewheeling pluralism.
Japan is increasingly concerned by China’s aggression towards Taiwan, as Beijing seeks sovereignty over the island.
China held military drills in Taiwan’s vicinity last August, to protest Nancy Pelosi, the former Speaker of the United States House. Five missiles were launched into Okinawa and Japan’s exclusive economic zones.
