Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday thanked Japan for its firm support for maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and stressed that Taiwan has always welcomed international society’s efforts to help maintain regional peace.
Lin made the remarks in response to Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya reiterating the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) in Tokyo on Saturday.
During the meeting, Iwaya also said that Japan is closely monitoring Chinese military activities toward Taiwan and encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said.
Photo: Eugene Hoshiko, Reuters
Iwaya said Japan opposes any attempts to unilaterally change the “status quo” by force or coercion, the ministry added.
The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Iwaya expressed Japan’s serious concerns about the situation in the East China Sea and near the Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutais, 釣魚台列嶼), and the intensification of Chinese military activities, adding that due to Japanese nationals being detained and the lack of transparency in China’s “anti-espionage law,” Japanese are hesitant about traveling to China
Taiwan’s foreign affairs ministry yesterday said that in recent years, the Japanese government has in several international meetings stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and urged the international society to closely monitor the situation in the Strait.
The topic was also brought up during the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru in Washington last month, the US-Japan-South Korea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Munich, Germany, last month, and the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Canada this month, the ministry said.
Lin thanked Japan for its continued attention to the security of the Taiwan Strait, and for firmly supporting peace and stability in the Strait, it said.
Lin also pledged that Taiwan would continue to bolster its self-defense capabilities and enhance cooperation with like-minded countries to ensure peace, stability and prosperity in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
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