Koichi Hagiuda, policy chief of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said Wednesday his party will actively strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Taiwan as he met the island's leader Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei.
Taiwan is "a very important partner" of Japan, Hagiuda said during the meeting at Tsai's office, saying the two sides share universal values and have close economic relations and frequent personnel exchanges.
Thanking Japan for supporting the self-ruled democratic island, Tsai noted Tokyo has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community to the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. She also expressed hope that both sides can continue to contribute to the region.
The two also agreed to oppose attempts to change the status quo by force and jointly tackle practices of economic coercion, in reference to China's increased military and trade pressure on the island.
Earlier in the day, another Japanese lawmaker, Keiji Furuya, who heads a cross-party parliamentary group promoting Japan-Taiwan relations, stressed the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait in a speech to the Yushan Forum in Taipei.
The Chinese Embassy in Tokyo the same day protested the Japanese politicians' Taiwan visits during its celebrations for National Day, urging Japan to "stop sending wrong signals to 'Taiwan independence' forces" and halt its attempts to use Taiwan to contain China.
Communist-ruled China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be united with the mainland, by force if necessary. Beijing has conducted several large-scale drills near the island and curbed imports of some Taiwan products in recent years.
