Japanese parliamentarians meet Tsai in Taipei to strengthen ties

Tokyo, Aug 23 (EFE).- A delegation of Japanese parliamentarians met Tuesday in Taipei with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, in a visit aimed at strengthening ties and condemning “any attempted attack” on the island amid tensions in the strait.

The Japanese delegation, headed by Keiji Furuya, leader of a parliamentary group dedicated to strengthening relations with Taiwan, is the second to visit this territory in less than a month. The event takes place after the crisis experienced in early August as a result of the trip of United States House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Tsai thanked Japanese legislators for their support during the crisis and Tokyo’s condemnation of the Chinese military maneuvers, and said an eventual attack on Taiwan “would be a significant threat to the democratic system in the entire Indo-Pacific region,” according to Japanese news agency Kyodo.

The president also highlighted the security cooperation of Taipei and Tokyo, which though not maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan, does have ties and unofficial exchanges in various fields with this island.

During the meeting, Furuya described as “unacceptable” the launch of Chinese ballistic missiles that flew over Taiwan and fell into exclusive economic waters of Japan, within the framework of the aforementioned maneuvers by Beijing in response to Pelosi’s visit.

The group of Japanese parliamentarians also valued Taiwan’s “calm and cautious” reaction to these Chinese military exercises, and said Japan would maintain its close collaboration with Taipei and the US to prevent attempts to change the “status quo” in the strait by force.

Taiwan called China’s military presence in the strait a “blockade” on the island, which Beijing has also applied economic sanctions to, and Tsai called China’s “deliberately heightened military threat” irresponsible.

China, which called Pelosi’s visit a “farce” and “deplorable betrayal,” has considered Taiwan a rogue province since the Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists. EFE

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