Japanese Lawmakers Visit Taiwan to Discuss ‘Security Issues’

Former defense minister of Japan, Shigeru Ishiba speaks during a debate ahead of the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) leadership election on September 12, 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Ishiba has announced his candidacy for the top leadership of LDF after Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said he would not run again. Photo by Charly Triballeau - Pool/Getty Images

A bipartisan group of Japanese lawmakers visited Taiwan last week to discuss strategic ties between the two countries. The visit sparked a strong reaction from China, which was not unforeseen, analysts say.

The Japanese legislators met with Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te last Wednesday at the Presidential Office. They were hosted for a luncheon the next day by Taiwan’s minister of foreign affairs, Lin Chia-lung. The delegation included Shigeru Ishiba—Japan’s former defense minister and a prospective candidate for prime minister.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the visiting group as a “Japanese parliamentary delegation focused on security issues,” in an official statement on Aug. 15. Other than Ishiba, the delegation included five members of the Japanese House of Representatives: Seiji Maehara and Ishiba, who jointly led the delegation; Gen Nakatani; Akihisa Nagashima; Shu Watanabe; and Keiro Kitagami.

In his remarks at the luncheon, Lin emphasized the “geographical proximity of Taiwan and Japan, their shared values of democracy and freedom, the close ties between their peoples, and the threat of authoritarian expansionism they both face.”

He spoke of the need for the two countries to establish a security dialogue mechanism to facilitate responses to future emergency situations.

On his last day in Taipei, Ishiba—the former secretary-general of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—reaffirmed his intention to run in the LDP’s next leadership election, scheduled for Sep. 27. He is expected to announce his candidacy in the party’s presidential election this week. 

Ishiba said during the luncheon that Japan and Taiwan should work with the larger democratic community to prevent East Asia from becoming “the Ukraine of tomorrow,” according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement. His recommendations included strengthening deterrence capabilities and jointly maintaining peace and security across East Asia and the Taiwan Strait.

The Japanese delegation also met with Taiwan’s vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim. After the meeting, Ishiba told reporters that in the event of a “contingency in the Taiwan Strait,” Japan and Taiwan will work closely together.

“It is important to make China well aware that even if it were to use force, it would not succeed, or it would pay a very heavy price,” Ishiba said.

Amid a Political Transition

The visit by the Japanese delegation to Taiwan came amid a leadership transition in the LDP, whose current head is Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Kishida announced this week that he will not seek reelection as the leader of the LDP. Since the Japanese Parliament is currently controlled by the LDP, the next leader of the party will assuredly become the next prime minister.

Ming-Shih Shen is director of national security research at Taipei’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research. Shen told The Epoch Times it is significant that the Japanese delegation cut across party lines.

It was also significant that Ishiba reaffirmed his candidacy for the LDP chairmanship during the Taiwan visit, “which means that he may become the prime minister of Japan after the Japanese parliamentary election,” Shen said.

Ishiba has emerged as the top public choice for prime minister, according to an Aug. 15 survey conducted by Kioicho Strategy Institute, a political consulting group, a report by Japanese media Nippon said.

Ishiba’s speech on Aug. 15 showed an increasingly close relationship between the two countries, “highlighting the relevance of Taiwan and Japan’s interests,” Shen said.

Prior to 2022, Ishiba took a pro-Chinese stance, according to Shen. Since 2022, however, he has shifted, “mainly due to China’s outward expansion and Xi Jinping’s aggressive intentions,” Shen said.

Regardless of the election’s outcome, China’s tough foreign policy and its tense relationship with the United States “will allow Japan to adopt a countervailing role to China,” he said.

‘Taiwan’s Defense Is Japan’s Defense’

Geo-strategic relations between Taiwan and Japan remained the focus of the delegation’s discussions with Taiwanese officials and political leaders, according to various reports. Lin’s call for the development of a “security dialogue mechanism” highlighted the defense and security context of evolving Taiwan–Japan relations, experts said.

Taiwan’s location is a key part of that context, Grant Newsham, senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy and Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, told The Epoch Times in an email. Taiwan sits astride the sea lanes of the South China Sea, through which a huge percentage of Japan’s trade and energy imports flow, he noted.

“As some Japanese officials and many military officers have said for decades, ‘Taiwan’s defense is Japan’s defense.’ That’s true,” Newsham said. By controlling Taiwan, China can choke off Japan’s vital lifeline, he added.

If China’s People’s Liberation Army is stationed in Taiwan, China would be in a position to isolate or even surround Japan. China would then be able to easily expand its military operations into the Pacific, he said.

“If Taiwan ‘goes under’ ... it will shake the foundation of the U.S. military presence in the region and broader American influence—on which Japan is utterly dependent,” Newsham said.

Shen cited the recurring security threat from China faced by Japan, the United States, and Taiwan. The three countries are cooperating because of common interests in geopolitics, global supply chains, and democratic values, he said.

Newsham said he believes that despite Japan’s understanding of the common security threat from China, it has not been able to do what’s necessary to bolster Taiwan.

“Maybe it will in the future, but maybe it will be too late,” he said.

Nonetheless, due to evolving geopolitics, more and more members of Japan’s Congress will visit Taiwan, Shen said.

“China cannot stop this trend,” he said.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) talks to Shigeru Ishiba, the then-minister for vitalizing local economy in Japan, during a plenary session at the lower house in Tokyo on July 16, 2015. Ishiba's visit last week to Taiwan along with five other Japanese lawmakers didn't go over well with the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, which reacted strongly to the visit. AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama

China Reacts

The Japanese delegation’s visit to Taiwan didn’t go over well with the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. The embassy issued a stern warning on Aug. 16 that Japan should be ready to “pay a heavy price” if it interferes in China’s plans for Taiwan. Experts said these messages indicate that China will not stray from its Taiwan agendas.

China considers the self-ruled nation of Taiwan a breakaway province and calls for it to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

One important lesson can be drawn from Beijing’s response, Newsham said: There is no possible deal with China that would cause “the Chinese communists to back off from their campaign to strangle Taiwan and to dominate the broader Pacific region.”

Shen noted that when Kishida announced he would no longer run for the chairmanship of the LDP, Lai congratulated him in a social media post, and that when Kishida responded to three heads of state including Taiwan, his response “symbolized that Japan regards Taiwan as a country.”

This is ... the main reason why the Chinese Embassy in Japan is angry,” Shen said.

Chinese criticism of visits by Japanese leaders and lawmakers to Taiwan isn’t new and is unsurprising, Newsham said. “These complaints are as certain as the sun coming up in the east every morning,” he said.

Almost a year ago, comments by former Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro at the Ketagalan Forum in Taipei sparked protests from Beijing.

Aso said that Japan, the United States, and Taiwan need to show “the resolve to fight” to defend Taiwan amid China’s increasing assertiveness.

“There has never been a time like now when Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and like-minded countries need to resolve to put into action a strong deterrence. This is a resolve to fight,” Aso said at the time.

In an official response, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo said Aso “got out of his depth and talked nonsense.”

“If some people in Japan insistently link China’s domestic affairs with Japan’s security, it will lead Japan down the wrong path,” the spokesperson said.

According to Newsham, visits of influential Japanese politicians to Taiwan demonstrate Japanese concern over Chinese threats to Taiwan. They also demonstrate a degree of support for a “free Taiwan—as currently exists.”

He highlighted that the Japanese delegation’s visit happened despite inevitable Chinese criticism.

“And possible (if not likely) measures to harass Japanese companies operating in China, and perhaps even grabbing more Japanese ‘hostages’ who are living and working in [China],” he said.

That the visit went on despite awareness of those potential risks, indicates “a degree of Japanese commitment to Taiwan,” he said.