《TAIPEI TIMES》 Japan delegations urge closer Taiwan cooperation

健康 國際 地方 蒐奇 影音 財經 娛樂 汽車 時尚 體育 3 C 評論 藝文 玩咖 食譜 地產 專區 TAIPEI TIMES 求職

Nobuyuki Baba, left, head of the Japan Innovation Party’s Japan-Republic of China Friendship Study Group, clinks mugs with President William Lai at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page

/ Staff writer, with CNA

A senior member of the Japan Innovation Party （JIP） yesterday called for closer Tokyo-Taipei cooperation, including on drone and space-based technologies, to meet modern defense needs and promote regional peace and stability.

Nobuyuki Baba, former JIP leader and head of the party’s Japan-Republic of China Friendship Study Group, met earlier yesterday with President William Lai （賴清德） at the Presidential Office in Taipei, and discussed bilateral relations, US-China ties and other issues.

Speaking at a press briefing, Baba thanked Taiwan for its generous donations to help people affected by a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck Japan’s Kumamoto Prefecture late last month, causing widespread infrastructure damage and transportation disruptions and killing at least 38 people.

“True friendship reveals itself through adversity,” he said, adding that Japan and Taiwan have always been there for each other in times of crisis.

The Taiwanese government said that a dedicated bank account set up to accept private donations for the quake had reached more than NT$300 million （US$9.51 million）.

The government also donated NT$5 million to support reconstruction efforts in Kumamoto, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Baba said his delegation and Lai agreed that both sides should continue to deepen bilateral cooperation and exchanges in areas such as the economy, culture, tourism and natural disaster preparedness.

On regional security, Baba said that Lai told him that Taiwan is strengthening its self-defense capabilities.

The Japanese government is also considering strengthening its self-defense capabilities amid rising regional and global tensions, he said.

The JIP, the junior coalition partner of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party （LDP）, also hopes to harness drone and space-based technologies to revolutionize national defense and logistics and meet the challenges posed by modern warfare, Baba said.

Tokyo and Taipei should work together to complement each other’s capabilities and jointly develop cutting-edge technologies, including drones, he said.

At the meeting, Lai told the JIP delegation that Taiwan looks forward to an even stronger partnership between the two countries under the LDP-JIP coalition, to jointly build a “non-red” supply chain, thereby enhancing the resilience of global democratic supply chains and strengthening economic and trade cooperation, Lai said.

Separately yesterday, a delegation from the Japanese cross-party parliamentary group “Diet Members’ Association for Peace and Stability in the Taiwan Strait” arrived in Taipei for a three-day visit.

The delegation is led by Haruo Kitamura, a member of the House of Councilors from the Conservative Party of Japan.

Kitamura said Taiwan is Japan’s most important friend, adding that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are important not only to Taiwan, but also “vital to Japan’s very survival.”

He specifically cited two legislative goals, pointing to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act and Taiwan Travel Act.

He said Japan must, “by all means,” pass its own versions of the two laws to allow Japan to work with the US to continue conveying to the world the close ties between Japan and Taiwan and their peoples.

“Only by doing so can we take the most critical step toward safeguarding peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” he said.

Additional reporting by Fang Wei-li

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