TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Policy chief of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Hagiuda Koichi, on Sunday (Dec. 11) hailed the Japan-Taiwan friendship as entering a new century of bilateral ties.
Speaking at a forum on Taiwan-Japan relations sustainability, Hagiuda said he hopes the Japan-Taiwan partnership will be “broader, deeper, and raised to a newer level," Liberty Times reported.
He said the first step is to accelerate the construction of the Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing (JASM) factory in Kumamoto, Japan. Once completed, the factory is expected to create about 1,500 high-tech professional jobs and have a monthly production capacity of 45,000 12-inch wafers, according to a Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) press release.
JASM is a joint endeavor between TSMC and Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation.
The Japanese government has also invested in ramping up international cooperation in AI and quantum technologies and hopes to collaborate more with Taiwan in these areas, Hagiuda said.
In terms of trade, the policy chief said Japan cherishes free trade, the core of which is the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), per Liberty Times. Japan firmly believes in establishing free and fair regulations and is determined to promote it globally, he said.
Hagiuda added that he personally supports Taiwan’s membership in CPTPP but urged the Tsai administration to remove remaining food import bans from Fukushima, Chiba, Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki prefectures "based on science."
Hagiuda also said the two nations can partner in the field of energy. Japan is shifting to hydrogen energy, which can not only be stored in large quantities but also be supplied safely, he said.
The policy chief stated that Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S. do not want to see unilateral, forceful changes to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. No matter the severity of a dispute, it should be resolved through peaceful, diplomatic means based on the rule of law, he said.
Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait can be said to be the litmus test of whether a free and open Indo-Pacific can be maintained in the future, Hagiuda said. "Taiwan's affairs are Japan's affairs, which is equivalent to the Japan-U.S. alliance's affairs," he added.
The forum was organized by the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association and the Japan-Taiwan Exchange Association. It was divided into four sessions that included discussions on bilateral relations, the regional situation, the Taiwan-Japan economy and trade, and the society and culture of both countries.
