President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday issued a congratulatory message to Fumio Kishida after he was officially elected Japan’s 100th prime minister.
The 64-year-old former Japanese minister of foreign affairs on Wednesday last week won the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election after two rounds of voting, positioning him to take over from Yoshihide Suga as prime minister. He did so after winning a majority of votes in both houses of parliament yesterday.
Tsai extended sincere congratulations to Kishida on behalf of Taiwan’s government and people, while wishing the new Japanese government all the best under Kishida’s leadership, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said in a news release.
Photo: Lai Hsiao-tung, Taipei Times
Taiwan and Japan are like-minded partners, demonstrated by the high volume of trade and people-to-people exchanges between the two nations, Chang said, adding that they also share the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and rule of law.
Japan is Taiwan’s third-largest trading partner, while Taiwan is Japan’s fourth-largest, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Taiwan is also Japan’s third-largest source of foreign visitors, while Japan was Taiwan’s second-largest source of foreign visitors before the COVID-19 pandemic, it added.
Tsai also thanked Suga for his strong support of Taiwan during his tenure as prime minister, especially Tokyo’s five donations of COVID-19 vaccines, Chang said.
Tsai said she hopes the “circle of goodwill” between the two nations would continue under Japan’s new government, Chang said, adding that the government would continue to promote diversified cooperation with Japan, and jointly safeguard regional peace and prosperity for the benefit of the people of both nations.
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