Ex-Taiwan Pres. Lee Calls for Defense Exchange with Japan

June 24, 2018

Taipei- Former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui stressed Saturday the importance for Japan and Taiwan to promote exchanges and cooperation in the defense field.

In a speech in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, Lee accused China of being the biggest factor of instability in Asia by posing a hegemonic threat.

To help ensure regional stability, it is important that Japan and Taiwan promote exchanges and create cooperative relations not only in the economy and culture but also in the fields of science and technology as well as military.

Amid significant changes in the situation in Asia, including North Korea, Lee said he thinks Japan needs to change itself drastically without relying on the United States.

He was apparently referring to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's aim of revising the U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution.

Lee delivered the speech at a dinner hosted by the Japan Taiwan Peace Foundation, a friendship association in Naha, capital of Okinawa, and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association in Japan.

Lee was on a four-day visit to Okinawa at the invitation of the foundation. Jiji Press