The leaders of a Japan-Taiwan legislative group say that they hope to have three-way defense dialogues with officials from Japan, Taiwan and the United States.
The comments were made by the head of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council and Diet member Keiji Furuya on Monday during a meeting of the council. Furuya said that delegations of lawmakers and officials from both Japan and the U.S. plan to attend the inauguration of President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德) on May 20. He says the inauguration would be a good occasion to hold in-person defense dialogues with lawmakers from the three countries. The council previously hosted trilateral meetings in 2021 and 2022.
Furuya and council deputy secretary general Yasushi Kaneko recently visited Taiwan to witness the presidential election. In a message recorded for the council’s Monday meeting, Lai thanked the two legislators for their congratulatory messages on election day.
Furuya says that he was impressed by the enthusiasm of Taiwanese voters on election day, as well as being able to watch the results of the election in real-time on television. He says viewing the election returns in such a fast, detailed, and nationwide manner is something not currently seen in Japan.
Furuya also says he has invited President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to visit Japan once she is out of office. Tsai said at the time that she is very fond of Japan and would like to visit, but did not announce any travel plans.