A member of a visiting Youth Division delegation from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has tested positive in Taiwan early Thursday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), adding that the individual and his contacts have canceled all their planned activities in the country.
The 11-member delegation, led by LDP Youth Division head Masanobu Ogura, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, arrived in Taipei on Tuesday for a five-day trip.
Other members of the delegation include Diet members Norikazu Suzuki, Hayato Suzuki, Susumu Yamaguchi, and Daisuke Nishino, as well as executives of the Youth Division.
In accordance with COVID-19 rules for their visit, the delegation underwent COVID-19 screenings on Thursday, where one of the five Diet members tested positive for COVID-19, MOFA spokeswoman Joanne Ou (???) said. She did not disclose the name of the Diet member.
The other members of the group which the COVID-positive Diet member was in tested negative earlier Thursday. The Diet member and others in the same group have been asked to cancel all their planned public appearances in Taiwan.
The second group, which all tested negative early Thursday, meanwhile, continued their original schedule which included meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (???) in the Presidential Office, Ou said.
The 11-member delegation was separated into two groups on the day they arrived in Taiwan to prevent having to quarantine everyone if one of the members later tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Ou.
Ou said all contacts of the confirmed case in Taiwan are in good health, including Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (???), who hosted a banquet to welcome the Japanese delegation on Tuesday night.
As to what will happen to the COVID-positive Japanese politician, a diplomatic source told CNA that person has to stay in Taiwan for a certain period of time until he tests negative for the coronavirus.
Other members of the delegation can leave the country on Saturday as scheduled, the source said, adding that more details would be announced by the Central Epidemic Command Center on the same day.
During Tsai’s meeting with the Japanese delegation members Thursday morning, she wished the Diet member who tested positive in Taiwan a swift recovery.
In response, Norikazu Suzuki, who now leads the delegation, told Tsai that the ongoing visit marks the division’s first Taiwan trip since 2019 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also reiterated his party’s support for Taiwan’s application to join a Tokyo-led transnational trade pact, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), while stressing that both Japan and Taiwan oppose any use of force by authoritarian regimes to unilaterally change the status quo.
The delegation is visiting under a so-called “diplomatic bubble” that allows foreign dignitaries to visit during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic without undergoing the required seven-day quarantine for most arrivals.
Under the bubble, these foreign visitors travel in designated vehicles to events, and can only stay in hotels to limit contact with the general public.
Also, each delegation member had to undergo COVID-19 screenings before boarding the plane to Taiwan, on the day they touched down in Taiwan, and again on the third day of their stay in the country, which was Thursday.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel