Taipei: Senior Japanese ruling party lawmaker Koichi Hagiuda and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday affirmed that Japan and Taiwan will work together to counter economic coercion, apparently referring to threats from China.

In their meeting at the president’s office in Taipei, Hagiuda, policy chief of the Liberal Democratic Party, and Tsai also agreed that Japan and Taiwan will strengthen cooperation to ensure stable semiconductor supply.

Tsai told Hagiuda that she hopes that Japan and Taiwan will cooperate as strong partners and contribute to regional peace and prosperity.

Hagiuda said that Taiwan is an extremely important partner and a precious friend of Japan. The LDP will seek to further deepen cooperation and exchanges with Taiwan, he said.

The Japanese lawmaker held talks with Tsai during his trip to Taiwan in December last year.

Earlier on Wednesday, Hagiuda delivered a speech at I-Shou University in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, telling audiences that Japan would rapidly and drastically strengthen its defense capabilities, in line with the realities of East Asia.

He urged China to stop any actions that could heighten military tensions.

Hagiuda also demanded that China immediately remove its blanket ban on imports of Japanese fishery products, introduced in August in response to Japan’s release into the sea of tritium-containing treated water from its Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, the site of the March 2011 triple meltdown. Japan will never tolerate coercive acts, he said.

JIJI Press