Senior cabinet member pays official visit to Taiwan

March 25, 2017

Taipei- A senior Japanese cabinet member attended an event in Taipei on Saturday, becoming the highest-ranking Japanese government official to visit Taiwan on official business since Japan and the autonomous island severed their diplomatic ties in 1972.

The visit to Taiwan by Jiro Akama, state minister of internal affairs and communications, is expected to draw protests from China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province.

The event, related to Japan’s regional revitalization efforts, was organized by the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association. The association’s Taipei office serves as Japan’s de facto embassy in Taiwan.

Since Japan and Taiwan broke their official relations following the 1972 Japan-China diplomatic normalization, Japan has stopped short of sending senior government officials, including cabinet ministers, to Taiwan, out of respect for its relations with China.

In 2006, Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, then state minister of agriculture, visited Taiwan and held talks with then Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian. But Japan characterized the visit as a private trip.

The government of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, inaugurated in May 2016, aims to strengthen relations with Japan while keeping a distance from China.

The official visit to Taiwan by Akama can be taken as reflecting the policy of the government of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, which puts much value on relations with Taiwan.

In a speech at the event, Akama said, “Japan and Taiwan are wonderful partners that have close relations in a broad range of fields.”

“Japan and Taiwan will continue to maintain their working relations on a nongovernmental basis,” he told reporters after the event. “There is no change to it (the policy).”

The event is part of a publicity campaign by the Japanese Foreign Ministry to highlight local attractions in Japan. The state minister, involved in regional revitalization projects, was asked by the ministry to attend the event, being held at a cultural facility in Taipei for two days through Sunday.

Akama arrived in Taiwan on Friday night. With no talks scheduled with a senior Taiwanese government official during his stay, he is slated to leave Taiwan late Saturday afternoon.
Jiji Press