Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida last week revamped his Cabinet, replacing former defense minister Nobuo Kishi in consideration of his health. The newly appointed minister of defense, Yasukazu Hamada, and former defense minister Shigeru Ishiba, along with several lawmakers, visited Taiwan last month to hold talks with senior Taiwanese officials and academics on security issues. The delegation met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), reaffirming the Japanese government’s stance on cross-strait issues. Kishida’s change of staff carries obvious implications.
When South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declined to meet US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on her Asia tour, citing his vacation
Akio Yaita, the Taipei bureau head of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun, is an enthusiastic proponent of closer Taiwan-Japan relations and has long hoped to emulate the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan. Last month, the Friends of Abe Association in Japan finally came to fruition.
The original plan was for former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe to travel to Taiwan to attend the association’s inauguration ceremony. Who would have thought that Abe would last week be gunned down? Abe’s untimely departure is a loss that will be borne heavily by Taiwanese, who are acutely aware that he was Japan’s most
At the G7 summit in Germany late last month, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida criticized China for sending vessels near the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan). He took issue with Beijing for its exploration of gas fields in Japanese waters in the East China Sea, and for threatening the security of the Indo-Pacific region.
Kishida also said that China should not be allowed to change the “status quo” by force, and specifically referred to the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. He called on G7 nations to strengthen security cooperation with Indo-Pacific