Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is likely to drive more concern than hope in Beijing as rumors swirl that he would appoint pro-Taiwan figures to his Cabinet, academics said at a forum in Taipei yesterday.
Last week, Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), elected Ishiba as its party leader, who is set to be named the country’s new prime minister today by the National Diet.
There are rumors that Ishida would appoint several pro-Taiwan figures to his Cabinet, and that Taiwan-Japan relations would continue to develop, political scientist Hsieh Wen-sheng (謝文生) told a forum hosted by the Institute for National Policy Research on the LDP’s leadership election and Ishiba’s policy priorities.
Photo: Kyodo via Reuters
Event speakers included Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中), Executive Yuan advisor Nozaki Takao, and other academics and experts.
In his speech, Wu said that Taiwan defends peace and security in the Taiwan Strait and values being a friend to the international community, as it does not engage in aggression or seek to make enemies.
Wu said that during his time as Taiwan’s representative to France, he saw first-hand the international support Taiwan receives and the cooperation between Taiwan and the Japanese embassy in Paris.
The recent Japan-France Foreign and Defense Ministers’ Meeting, also known as the “2+2,” and the first transit of a Japanese ship in the Taiwan Strait since World War II demonstrates the importance of maintaining regional peace, he said.
American and South Korean attitudes toward Japan would remain unchanged, but with the prospect of a strong Taiwan-Japan relationship, China would likely continue to express concern, Hsieh said.
It would be important to observe the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Peru next month and the G20 Summit in Brazil, both of which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is expected to attend, Hsieh added.
A potential Ishiba-Xi summit would be a focal point of attention, he added.
The Coast Guard Administration and the Japan Coast Guard in July conducted their first joint search-and-rescue drill, National Taiwan Normal University professor Fan Shih-ping (范世平) said.
As a former Japanese minister of defense, Ishiba is well-versed in security issues and supports the establishment of an “Asian NATO” and a legal framework for Taiwan-Japan relations, Fan said.
Defense cooperation between Taiwan, Japan and the US would likely deepen, and there might even be a Japanese version of the US’ Taiwan Relations Act, he added.
Ishiba’s proposed “Asian NATO” would bring together existing diplomatic and security agreements, such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue — a grouping of Australia, Japan, India and the US — and the AUKUS security pact between the US, the UK and Australia, said Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the state-run Institute for National Defense and Security Research.
The rapid growth of China’s influence and power relative to the US in the region drove Ishiba’s statements regarding the need to establish an Asian defense treaty organization, he said.
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
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
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