Tokyo: A delegation of lawmakers from Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), led by caucus whip Fu Kun-chi, visited Japan's Diet on Thursday as part of an ongoing trip aimed at strengthening bilateral exchanges. Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya received the 27-member KMT group at the First Members' Office Building of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet.

According to Focus Taiwan, Furuya is a veteran member of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and chair of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council, which promotes bilateral ties in the Diet. Furuya and 14 other council members welcomed the visiting Taiwanese lawmakers. Furuya expressed his anticipation of welcoming Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu, a senior KMT member, during Han's upcoming trip to Japan later this month.

A source informed CNA that Han is scheduled to lead a cross-party legislative delegation to Japan from September 25-29 to promote parliamentary diplomacy. The group is also expected to visit Expo 2025 in Osaka. KMT Legislator Lee Yen-hsiu, who joined the current trip, mentioned in a Facebook post that the visit to Japan's Diet reflects the party's long-term goal of fostering friendly exchanges with Japan.

The KMT hopes such exchanges between the two legislatures can become routine to help strengthen cooperation on security, supply chain resilience, and people-to-people ties, Lee said.