TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) arrived in Japan on Thursday at the head of a 12-member multiparty delegation of lawmakers.

The group included six KMT, five DPP, and one TPP legislator, per CNA. They will meet the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council and visit the Taiwan Pavilion at the Osaka Expo 2025.

Before leaving Taiwan in the morning, Han expressed the hope that the trip would improve the country’s international reputation and strengthen bilateral friendship. As domestic political tension in Taiwan had subsided, it had now finally become possible to accept the invitation from the Consultative Council to visit Japan, he added.

After arriving at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, Han thanked leading figures in Japan for their comments of sympathy with the victims of Typhoon Ragasa, CNA reported. At least 14 people died when a barrier lake overflowed, sending a surge of water and mud through the streets of Guangfu Township in Hualien County on Tuesday.

Taiwan’s envoy to Japan Lee Yi-yang (李逸洋) said he had been replying to each message from Japanese political leaders, thanking them for their expressions of support. Each time disaster struck in Taiwan, Japan was the first to offer condolences, he added.

During the afternoon, the legislators visited former Prime Minister Aso Taro, per TVBS. The senior Liberal Democratic Party politician said that when China conducted military drills around Taiwan in April, Japan had expressed its concerns to Beijing. The Japanese government opposed any attempt using force or pressure to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, he said.

Aso also emphasized that no matter who won his party’s leadership election on Oct. 4 to become premier, Japan’s policies on Taiwan and China would not change.