Japan is concerned by the sorties of Chinese People’s Liberation Army planes near Taiwan, Japanese Diet member Norikazu Suzuki told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Suzuki, a member of the delegation from the Youth Division of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party that arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a five-day visit, said the scale of China’s recent military sorties into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) was unprecedented.
“We are treating this matter as our own and have become alarmed,” said Suzuki, who is acting head of the youth division, although he did not specify exactly who “we” referred to.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
As of March 10, 223 Chinese military planes had entered Taiwan’s ADIZ this year, the Ministry of National Defense has said.
The ministry has been publishing information about such flights since Sept. 17, 2020, amid a rising number of sorties in Taiwan’s ADIZ by Chinese military aircraft.
The largest number of such flights in a single day was 56, recorded on Oct. 4 last year, ministry data showed.
An ADIZ is an area declared by a country to allow it to identify, locate and control approaching foreign aircraft, but it is not considered territorial airspace.
Suzuki did not respond directly to media queries about how Taiwan and Japan could cooperate on defense and security issues, saying only the delegation would bring the main points from its discussions with Taiwanese officials back to Japan in the hope that it would pave the way for boosting cooperation between the two sides.
The visit by the delegation sends a message that Japan opposes any acts of unilaterally changing the “status quo” by force, he added.
Taiwan is an important neighbor and partner of Japan, and the two sides should show solidarity with one another, especially at a time when the world has been shaken by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said.
In addition to political issues, Taiwan and Japan ought to enhance their economic engagement, he said, adding that the youth division would support Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Taiwan in September last year applied to join the Tokyo-led trade pact. Applicants have to win the unanimous support of all 11 members of the CPTPP.
Suzuki was speaking on behalf of the delegation as Masanobu Ogura, head of the Youth Division and the delegation, was forced to cancel all public appearances after a member of the delegation, Daisuke Nishino, on Thursday tested positive for COVID-19.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the 11 delegates had been divided into two groups and only those in the same group as Nishino, including Ogura, had to cancel their appearances.
In addition to meeting with top government officials such as President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President William Lai (賴清德) on Thursday, the delegation met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) and Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on the same day.
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