Presidential Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has expressed the hope that Taiwan and Japan could cooperate more closely in a conversation with Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker and former Japanese minister of internal affairs and communications Sanae Takaichi, who is vying to become her nation’s first female prime minister.
In a videoconference on Monday, Tsai said mutual assistance between Taiwan and Japan is critical to regional stability, and she hoped for closer bilateral cooperation in several areas, including regional security, economic development and global supply chains.
Takaichi has declared her candidacy in the ruling LDP’s election for party president on Wednesday next week that would likely determine the nation’s next prime minister.
Photo copied by Lin Tsui-yi, Taipei Times
Takaichi has been described by the Japan Times as “a favorite of conservatives, with hawkish views on defense and diplomacy.”
Tsai also thanked Takaichi for Japan’s donations of COVID-19 vaccines, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) statement about the 30-minute conversation said.
Takaichi wrote on Twitter that she had a virtual dialogue with “Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen” on Monday evening, which proceeded smoothly with the help of translators.
Tsai is the DPP chairperson.
The Japanese lawmaker said that she was eager to hold the meeting to discuss how to deepen security ties and expand pragmatic exchanges between Japan and Taiwan.
Takaichi on Twitter posted a picture of the Japanese and Taiwanese national flags hanging on the wall of the venue where she held the online meeting with Tsai.
She said she expected the entire conversation to be posted on YouTube.
Japan donated more than 3.4 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan between June 4 and Sept. 7, and pledged to donate an additional 500,000 doses on Tuesday last week.
It has donated more vaccine doses to Taiwan than any other nation.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we