Image source,DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY
In the video conference on Friday, the Liberal Democratic Party placed Taiwan and Japan flags side by side on the table, and the Democratic Progressive Party placed two party flags.
Senior members of the ruling parties in Taiwan and Japan held a video conference to discuss issues such as the new crown epidemic and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region. Japanese representatives also pointed out that the two places had restrictions on official official exchanges. Therefore, they hoped that through Exchanges can strengthen cooperation between the two parties. This is the first time that the ruling parties in the two places have held similar meetings.
Both sides sent two representatives to participate in the meeting on Friday (August 27). The ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan has Senator Masahisa Sato and a member of the Foreign Defense Committee and Representative Otsuka Taku who is the chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Ministry of Defense. The DPP sent legislators Luo Zhizheng and Tsai Adaptation, and Taiwan media described them as both very familiar with Taiwan-Japan related issues.
The Beijing authorities criticized the meeting many times earlier, asking Japan not to interfere in China’s internal affairs. The day before the meeting, the Ministry of Defense of Japan stated that it detected three Chinese military aircraft passing through the airspace between the main island of Okinawa and Miyakojima, and flew towards the Pacific Ocean. One of them was a reconnaissance drone BZK-005. Fighters of the Japanese Self-Defense Force took off in an emergency response.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ou Jiang’an said that he is happy to see Taiwan’s political parties interact with major political parties in countries with similar ideas and members of Congress. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not comment on the content and activities of exchanges between political parties based on administrative neutrality.
Some DPP legislators stated that the talks were actively invited by the Japanese side and represented a “substantial advancement” in the relationship between the two sides. “Almost the two governments directly engaged in security dialogue,” which has “cross-age significance.” He Zhiyong, deputy director of the International Department of the Kuomintang, said that the party is also promoting party diplomacy and is planning a video conference with the main cadres of the Liberal Democratic Party.
Analysis believes that this single meeting between Japan and Taiwan will not achieve any results, but it is still necessary to observe whether there will be other exchanges between political parties and civil organizations in the two places in the future.
Image source,Reuters
During the meeting, representatives of both parties mentioned the influence of China’s military development.
“Community of Destiny”
The video conference was originally scheduled for one hour, but it eventually took one and a half hours to complete. Representatives of both parties mentioned the influence of China’s military development. Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party representative Otsuka Taku described that Japan and Taiwan are both located near the East China Sea and in the same face of China, and are a “community with a shared future.”
Sato Masahisa pointed out that the Beijing authorities unilaterally changed the regional status quo and affected the security of Japan and Taiwan. Therefore, the Japanese side believes that it should strengthen communication with Taiwan and look forward to continued exchanges in the future. He also believes that this dialogue can help the Liberal Democratic Party’s decision-making process in the future.
When the DPP representatives spoke, Luo Zhizheng, on behalf of the DPP, first thanked the Liberal Democratic Party for taking the initiative to hold the exchange meeting, and congratulated Japan for successfully hosting the Olympics, and demonstrated Japan’s determination and ability during the epidemic. Luo Zhizheng also thanked the Japanese government and the Liberal Democratic Party for their efforts to promote Japan’s donation of more than 3 million doses of new crown vaccine to Taiwan.
He also said that it is clear that the biggest challenge in the Asia-Pacific region is the military, economic, technological and other impacts after China’s rise.
Another representative, Cai Adaptation, said that this dialogue symbolizes the fettered relationship between the two countries, and he also expects this dialogue to become the norm.
In the video conference on Friday, the Liberal Democratic Party placed Taiwan and Japan flags side by side on the table, and the Democratic Progressive Party placed two party flags.
Image source,DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY
This is the first time that the ruling parties in the two places have held similar meetings.
Taiwan has tried many times in the past to participate in different affairs of the international community, but it often failed because of pressure from Beijing. The relationship between Taiwan and Japan has continuously become the focus of attention from the outside world in the past few months. The Japan Broadcasting Association, which broadcasted the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, directly called it “Taiwan” when the Taiwanese team participating in the name of “Chinese Taipei” appeared, which caused dissatisfaction with the Chinese side. Taiwan’s political councilor Tang Feng was originally scheduled to visit Japan during the Olympics, but eventually cancelled his trip due to the new crown epidemic in Japan.
Zhao Yule, a former professor of humanities and social sciences at the Open University of Hong Kong who studied at Kyoto University in Japan, pointed out that Taiwan has always wanted to expand its international space, but it has always felt threatened from mainland China in the past, so it hopes to connect with other places to reach consensus.
In an interview with BBC Chinese, Zhao Yule said that he believes that Taiwan hopes to let other Asian countries and the world know through this opportunity that Taiwan “has its own ideas, including politics, society, people’s livelihood, etc.”.
Taiwan’s advantages
In recent years, the United States has repeatedly emphasized the need to return to the Indo-Pacific region, and Taiwan, because of its geopolitical relationship, can give play to its advantages in the US’s “first island chain” policy against China.
The so-called “first island chain” refers to a series of islands surrounding China starting from the Kuril Islands in the north and going south through Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines to Kalimantan Island and other islands. Since the beginning of the Korean War, the United States has regarded this island chain as an important strategy to check and balance China and even the communist camp. It can prevent China from entering the Pacific region, and it can also cut off China’s maritime oil transport routes through the Strait of Malacca.
In addition, there is the “Second Island Chain”, which is formed by connecting Guam, West Papua, and some islands in the Western Pacific.
Zhao Yule believes that Japan’s considerations are actually similar to those of Taiwan. As China’s military and economic power continues to grow, the dispute over the sovereignty of the two countries in the East China Sea and the Diaoyu Islands remains unresolved. Therefore, it hopes to have a greater role in the context of the US-Japan military alliance.
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Follow up
Zhao Yule believes that it is normal for China to express dissatisfaction with Taiwan-Japan exchanges in diplomacy, but it may not immediately take concrete countermeasures, because China and the United States still have many frictions in trade, technology and other fields. He believes that because of this, Beijing will emphasize that foreign countries must respect China’s sovereignty, such as issues in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, but as for some “small actions”, China has not seen much reaction.
The Taiwanese government has also constantly emphasized that this dialogue is a party-to-party exchange. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said at a press conference earlier that the authorities are in principle happy to see Taiwan’s political parties interact with major political parties and members of parliament in countries with similar global ideas. However, due to administrative neutrality, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs “has no comment” on the content of the substantive issues of exchanges between political parties or the holding of specific events.
Zhao Yule believes that this video conference is only a preliminary exchange between the two parties, and more importantly, whether the two parties will deepen similar exchanges in the future.
“The video conference is only a one-off event, but if there are follow-up actions afterwards, it will seem to have external support for Taiwan’s political circles.”