‘Japan’s Abe has goodwill towards Taiwan’: island to start talks with Tokyo on maritime issues
Discussions aimed at deepening ties could begin as soon as this month, says island’s President Tsai Ing-wen
Taiwan is to launch talks with Japan on maritime cooperation, including on fisheries and search and rescue, the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen said, part of a push to deepen ties with Asia’s second-largest economy.
China regards Taiwan as a wayward province, to be taken back by force if necessary, and is likely to disapprove of it building ties with Japan, especially when China is suspicious of Japan forging closer maritime cooperation in Southeast Asia.
“In the near future, we will jointly open the Taiwan-Japan maritime affairs cooperation dialogue,” Tsai told Japan’s Yomiuru Shimbun newspaper.
“We don’t rule out it could take place this month,” she said, according to a transcript of the interview, issued by Tsai’s office on Friday.
From Taiwan’s perspective, Prime Minister Abe is someone we are quite familiar with over a long period of time. We also understand that he has goodwill toward Taiwan
Media interviews by Taiwanese presidents are often used as a way for the diplomatically isolated, self-ruled island to state positions to a wider audience.
