Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) A visiting delegation from the Japanese Diet, led by Diet member Koichi Hagiuda, met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in Taipei on Wednesday.
The delegation’s meeting with Tsai at the Presidential Office was part of a visit to Taiwan that also included attending the National Day celebrations of the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name).
In her remarks, Tsai first thanked Hagiuda – policy chief of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and senior member of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council – for his support for collaboration between Taiwan and Japan, according to a press release issued by the Presidential Office.
The council, chaired by Japanese parliamentarian Keiji Furuya, is a cross-party Taiwan friendship group in the Japanese Diet with about 270 members.
Tsai went on to express hope that both sides will remain strong partners in their efforts to contribute to regional peace and prosperity, and work together to tackle such challenges as authoritarian expansion, energy transition and economic recovery in the post-pandemic era.
Meanwhile, Hagiuda said he looks forward to seeing more exchanges between the young people of Taiwan and Japan, adding that he is willing to provide assistance to facilitate such exchanges.
The parliamentarian added that he was impressed by the enthusiasm for issues related to Japan shown by students at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung, where he was invited to deliver a speech earlier on Wednesday.
Taiwan is a very important friend to Japan, with the two sides sharing universal values and developing close economic and people-to-people ties, he said, noting that the ruling Japanese party was committed to furthering such ties in the future.
