As long as the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is still in power in Japan, there would be no fundamental changes in Taiwan-Japan relations, experts said yesterday, following Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s announcement that he would not run for re-election as leader of the party.
The LDP, which has always supported strengthening cooperation with Taiwan, is unlikely to change in that regard, Institute for Policy Research senior consultant Chen Wen-jia (陳文甲) said.
“Especially as competition between the US and China intensifies, Taiwan-Japan cooperation would become increasingly important, particularly cooperation within the framework of the US-Japan alliance,” he said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
During his time in office, Kishida promoted Japan’s participation in the US’ Indo-Pacific strategy and strengthened the Japan-US alliance, he said.
“Kishida has promoted regional peace and stability within the framework of multilateral cooperation with Australia, India and other Indo-Pacific countries,” he said.
He has also maintained a tough stance on security issues related to the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, severely criticizing China’s expansionist behavior, and supporting the strengthening of Taiwan’s international status and defense capabilities, he said.
Regarding Kishida’s replacement, reports have suggested possibilities include former LDP secretary-general Shigeru Ishiba, Japanese Minister of Digital Affairs Taro Kono and Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa.
“Regardless of who takes over, Japan’s security and defense policies would not change much,” Institute for National Policy Research deputy director Kuo Yu-jen (郭育仁) said.
“Even if Kono, who has a good relationship with China, becomes prime minister, Japan’s security policy would not deviate from its current course,” Kuo said.
Japan’s current defense and security policies were established under the leadership of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and subsequent leaders Yoshihide Suga and Kishida followed the same policy direction, he said.
That direction was made concrete by Kishida after the Japanese government passed the latest version of its National Security Strategy and three other security documents at a cabinet meeting in December 2022, he said.
Japan has faced considerable security pressure over the past few years due to China’s activities in the East China Sea, as well as joint naval exercises involving the Chinese and Russian navies in the vicinity, he said.
“China’s military actions around the Taiwan Strait do not only impact Taiwan, Japan also feels the same pressure, because Japan relies heavily on shipping routes in the waters surrounding Taiwan,” he said.
Therefore, there would be opportunities to make progress in promoting Taiwan-Japan security cooperation, he said.
“Taiwan should take the initiative to strengthen contacts with the new Japanese government through official and unofficial efforts,” he said. “The government should seek to deepen bilateral defense cooperation, intelligence exchanges, and increase scientific, technological, economic and trade cooperation with Japan.”
Police have issued warnings against traveling to Cambodia or Thailand when others have paid for the travel fare in light of increasing cases of teenagers, middle-aged and elderly people being tricked into traveling to these countries and then being held for ransom. Recounting their ordeal, one victim on Monday said she was asked by a friend to visit Thailand and help set up a bank account there, for which they would be paid NT$70,000 to NT$100,000 (US$2,136 to US$3,051). The victim said she had not found it strange that her friend was not coming along on the trip, adding that when she
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
RSS