The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday congratulated Japan on the completion of its general elections and expressed the hope of deepening relations with the new government and the opposition parties.
Taiwan and Japan maintain a close and friendly relationship, sharing mutual values such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, it said, adding that through joint efforts, these important partners have steadily deepened their value-based, economic and allied diplomacy.
Taiwan looks forward to Japan’s continued socioeconomic development following the elections and deepening their cooperation with the new government and all political parties, the ministry said.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
It also hopes to continue working with Tokyo to safeguard a free and open international order, and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
Separately, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文), speaking at a seminar, urged the government to make friends with all major Japanese political parties after the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) lost its majority in the lower house for the first time in 15 years.
The LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, secured just 215 of the lower house’s 465 seats, short of the 233 needed to command a majority, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba described the result as a “severe judgement” to his party amid public anger over a series of political scandals.
Japan’s political situation faces uncertainty and instability, National University of Kaohsiung political science professor Yang Chun-chih (楊鈞池) told the seminar.
“The election result is having a huge impact on Japanese politics,” Yang said.
Without a majority, the ruling coalition under Ishiba would face a difficult time in the legislature, making it harder to push through major policies.
Under Japan’s Constitution, a special session in the National Diet, Japan’s legislature, must be held within 30 days of the election to select a prime minister, but whether Ishiba would be chosen to lead again is uncertain, Yang said.
If selected, Ishiba would have to come up with new policies in the coming months to continue in the post, Yang said.
Despite the latest election setback, Kuo said he believed Ishiba would do his best to remain as prime minister given that the former defense minister only succeeded in his fifth bid to become Japan’s top leader late last month.
He also noted that veteran lawmaker Akira Amari from the LDP’s legislative caucus on semiconductors lost his re-election bid.
Amari was behind Japan’s decision to invite Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) to open a wafer fab in Kumamoto, Kuo said.
Whether Amari’s failure to be re-elected and the LDP’s overall loss would affect Japan’s ruling coalition’s policy of promoting Taiwan-Japan semiconductor cooperation remains to be seen, he added.
Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁), deputy head of Taipei-based think tank the Institute for National Policy Research, predicted that Taiwan-Japan relations would not see a major breakthrough or improvement in the years to come given a minority government in Tokyo.
Additional reporting by Huang Chin-hsuan
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