Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Friday that Japan wants to expand cooperation and exchanges with Taiwan during a meeting with the island’s representative at the APEC multilateral forum, according to the Japanese government.
Meeting on the fringes of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, Kishida told Morris Chang that a peaceful resolution of issues related to the Taiwan Strait is important, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
“Taiwan is an extremely important partner and good friend that shares fundamental values, and has close economic ties and people-to-people exchanges” with Japan, Kishida was quoted by the ministry as saying.
Their meeting came a day after Kishida agreed with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to build “mutually beneficial” bilateral relations despite differences over a slew of issues.
At the meeting with Xi, he also underscored the importance of peace and stability in the strait.
Chang, the founder of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., also expressed hope for deeper ties with Japan, according to the ministry.
China views Taiwan as a renegade province to be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Japan has a nongovernmental, working-level relationship with Taiwan and maintains that cross-strait issues should be resolved peacefully through dialogue between China and Taiwan.