TOKYO – Japanese ruling Liberal Democratic Party heavyweight lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda will travel to Taiwan for three days from Sunday and is seeking a meeting with President Lai Ching-te, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The LDP’s executive acting secretary general will accompany a group of municipal assembly members from his Tokyo constituency. The visit could further irk China amid a diplomatic flare-up following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on a Taiwan contingency.
Hagiuda is also serving as the secretary general of a cross-party parliamentary group promoting Japan-Taiwan relations. He had been a close confidant of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the late leader whom Takaichi regarded as her mentor.
Separately, another LDP lawmaker and former Foreign Minister Taro Kono will visit Taiwan for three days from Wednesday and is considering meeting Lai as well, the sources said.
Tensions have spiked between Tokyo and Beijing just weeks after Takaichi took office in late October and suggested in parliament that an attack on Taiwan could constitute an existential threat to her country and potentially trigger a response from the Self-Defense Forces.
Beijing views Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.
While Japan switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in 1972, it maintains unofficial ties with Taipei.
AloJapan.com