A bipartisan group of over 40 Japanese lawmakers working to advance relations with Taiwan plans to visit the self-governed island from Saturday and join its National Day celebrations slated for next week, its Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
The ministry, in a statement, said delegation from the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council led by Keiji Furuya, joined by over 40 members, will attend celebrations for National Day that falls on Tuesday and meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen during their four-day visit to the island.
The delegation will include Koichi Hagiuda, policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Seishiro Eto, former vice speaker of the House of Representatives, the ministry said.
Oct. 10 is celebrated annually in Taiwan as National Day as it marks an uprising in 1911 in China that ended imperial dynasty rule and ushered in the Republic of China.
The republican government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists, who set up the People's Republic of China. The Republic of China remains Taiwan's formal name.
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