The Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association (JTEA) is prioritizing helping Taiwan gain entry into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Japanese Representative to Taiwan Hiroyasu Izumi said yesterday.
Joining the trade agreement would be important to “maintaining the status quo [in the Taiwan Strait] and ensuring Taiwan’s survival,” association head Izumi said at a forum organized by the Lee Teng-hui Foundation in Taipei to discuss Taiwan-Japan relations.
Izumi cited a discussion that former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) had with Japanese author Ryotaro Shiba, in which Lee told the writer that Taiwanese have a sadness that could only be resolved through developing
THE LEE EFFECT: Taiwanese have a strong sense of identity separate from China, which ‘will be important to protecting Taiwan’s sovereignty,’ the head of JTEA saidBy Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer