TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Former Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) will visit South Korea in July after launching a “Taiwan-Korea Win-Win Union” and Japan next April, reports said Tuesday (May 9).

There are numerous personalities in South Korea who want to promote closer ties to Taiwan, Lu told a news conference Tuesday. Paraphrasing the words of the late Japanese Prime Minister, Abe Shinzo, she said that if Taiwan had a problem, not only would Japan have a problem, but South Korea as well.

During her visit starting July 29, she will also organize an event to commemorate the 129th anniversary of the start of the Sino-Japanese war, CNA reported. The 1894-1895 war ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which recognized the independence of Korea and turned Taiwan into Japanese territory.

Lu, who served as vice president from 2000 to 2008, also faced questions from reporters about next January’s presidential elections. She said a presidential candidate needed to understand more than urban management or technological development, but also had to grasp the bigger picture.

Her comments were seen as allusions to the two Kuomintang (KMT) contenders, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-ih (侯友宜) and Foxconn Technology Group founder Terry Gou (郭台銘). Some politicians were only talking about peace, but did not know how to protect peace, Lu said.