A visiting Japanese parliamentarian delegation told a press conference in Taipei on Saturday that support for Taiwan in the Japanese Diet is bipartisan and would remain unchanged after the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in early July.

The Japanese parliament recognizes the importance of Japan-Taiwan relations and has shown bipartisan sympathy and support for Taiwan, said former Japanese Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who led the four-member delegation to Taiwan for a four-day visit.

The efforts to continue developing and promoting bilateral relations will not be reduced after the sudden death of Abe, added Ishiba, who served as Japan’s defense minister from 2007-2008.

Abe died on July 8 at the age of 67, hours after being shot twice by a man using a makeshift shotgun while campaigning for Japan’s upper house elections on a street in Nara, near Osaka.

The longest-serving prime minister of Japan was viewed by many in Taipei as a staunch supporter of Taiwan.

Echoing Ishiba’s views, former deputy defense chief Akihisa Nakashima said promoting Japan’s ties with Taiwan had never relied solely on the late former prime minister but that it was the effort of the Diet members across party lines.

Nakashima said the delegation, which consists of lawmakers focusing on defense affairs, visited Taiwan in order to discuss with Taiwanese officials how the two sides could collaborate on security matters.

Nakashima observed that some European nations had swiftly increased their engagements with Taiwan in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, adding that Japan should also make similar efforts to elevate its relations with Taipei.

The delegation, which also includes another former Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and parliamentarian Takayuki Shimizu, has met with President Tsai Ing-wen (???), Vice President Lai Ching-te (???), Premier Su Tseng-chang (???), as well as Eric Chu (???), chairman of Taiwan’s main opposition party Kuomintang, since their arrival on Wednesday.

Asked what the delegation had discussed specifically with the Taiwanese officials in terms of possible security cooperation, Ishiba declined to provide details, citing confidentiality, but noted that through the visit, the delegation had gotten a better understanding of the Taiwanese military’s defense preparedness and command and control operations.

The delegation hopes that their discoveries will provide some insights for developing Japan’s security policy in the future, Ishiba added.

Ishiba noted that while Japan has the responsibility to maintain the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, whether its Self-Defense Forces should intervene in an event of a conflict in the region remains to be discussed in the country.

The delegation is scheduled to wrap up their four-day Taipei trip after the press conference and return to Japan later Saturday.

The press conference followed a visit by the delegation to late Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui’s (???) grave at a New Taipei military cemetery, where the delegates paid their respect to Lee, who died exactly two years ago.

They were accompanied by Ambassador-at-large Lin Chia-lung (???), who is also the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s New Taipei City mayoral candidate in November’s local government elections, according to the Lee Teng-hui Foundation.

Lee, Taiwan’s first popularly elected president who passed away at the age of 97 on July 30, 2020, spoke fluent Japanese and had a reputation for holding pro-Japan views.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel