Taiwan’s Legislature has held the first annual meeting of the new Taiwan-Japan Exchange Association. The event comes after deputies decided to merge two existing legislative associations into one.
Legislature President Yu Shyi-kun led the Taiwanese delegation. He says Japan and Taiwan share common interests in diplomacy, security, and intelligence. He also says cooperation with like-minded democracies is the only way to stand up to totalitarian regimes.
Yu also repeated his hope that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would visit Taiwan when the COVID-19 pandemic ends.
Meanwhile, the Association’s Taipei representative Hiroyasu Izumi expressed his disappointment that a renewal of bilateral relations has not yet taken place.
Taiwan’s political parties each sent one representative to act as vice president alongside legislature president Yu Shyi-kun. A total of 95 lawmakers took part in the event.